


Bring Me To Life

by needylarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Abusive Relationships, Abusive boyfriend, Aggression, Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Boyfriends, Bruises, Cuts, Dark Harry, Domestic Violence, Humiliation, Love, M/M, Physical Abuse, Psychic Violence, Romance, Spanking, Student Harry, Student Louis, University, University Student Harry, University Student Louis, Verbal Abuse, Verbal Humiliation, Violence, it's dark because of other reason that you will find out later, larry - Freeform, larry stylinson - Freeform, okay but it's not like the dark-dark harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-03-21 11:02:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3689841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/needylarry/pseuds/needylarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis has a boyfriend called Bruce. Everyone who sees them walking on the street will think they're a perfect and happy couple, but they really don't know what happens behind closed doors.</p><p>Bruce beats Louis' every single day and humiliates him every time he can, whenever Louis does something he doesn’t like.</p><p>But Louis loves his boyfriend with all his heart no matter what and he keeps coming up with excuses until he meets Harry who’s going to save him.</p><p> </p><p>OR the AU where Louis has an abusive boyfriend and Harry's going to show him what real love is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of things inspired me to write this fanfiction, mentioning this specific matter.
> 
> Domestic violence.
> 
> I don't want to make it sound like this is easy stuff, I know it's not and if you feel uncomfortable talking about this or reading about it, please don't. I saw this on a soap opera and there was this couple near to where I live and I think that, besides, "having fun" writing this fanfiction, I want people to know that this is actually real and it happens.
> 
> I hope you like it :)

Louis sighed. He was tired, so tired. He thought Bruce was going to pick him from the university like he said he would but he simply didn’t show up so he had to walk home once again. His head was also hurting, almost as much as his eyes because he had just done a really difficult exam and it didn’t go that well and he couldn’t stop thinking about it, making it seem like his head hurt even more.

 

The second Louis opened the door and got in he was literally attacked by a fist on his tummy that got him on his knees. He was not ready at all for the pain that followed and everything caught him by surprise stealing the air from his lungs. A cried groan left his lips but another punch followed leaving him no time to recover from the first hit.

“Bruce- ah!” The boy screamed when the third punch hit him right on the stomach’s area.

“Shut up you fucking whore!”

“What did I do?” Louis cried, his voice failing, his lips salty because of the tears. “Bruce… s-stop.”

“I do whatever I want.” The man shouted, placing his hand around Louis’ neck and making him stand, gasping for air, trying to remove Bruce’s hand from his fragile, bruised neck. “Why didn’t you wash the dishes? Huh?”

“I… Br- let… le-t m-me breathe….”

“Fucking piece of shit.” Bruce muttered, pinning Louis to the wall, finally moving his hands away, but only to grab Louis’ small arms, hurting the boy in a new place. “Answer me!”

“I… I had to study, you know I had this really impor-“

“Don’t tell me what’s important!” Bruce shouted right at Louis’ ears, making the boy cringe in the small space he had left. “Taking care of your man is the only thing that matters and that means clean the house and keep everything in order! I’m not asking you that much am I?”

“But-“

“Am I!?”

“N-no…”

“Good. Now go to the kitchen and do what you’re supposed to and dinner. And do it quickly, I have to go back to work because something came up at the company.”

“Okay. I’ll go, I’m so sorry Bruce… you know that… that I love you, right?” Louis spoke in a soft tone, fast because of how nervous he was and that seemed to calm the man in front of him.

“Yes, give me a kiss.”

Louis got on his tiptoes, his blue eyes looking at the man with love, and his lips met Bruce’s, he tried to make the kiss soft and passionate but the man turned it into something hot and animalistic but Louis didn’t care, that’s how Bruce was and he loved him just like that, he loved him with all his heart no matter what.

“Go.” Bruce ordered and when Louis turned to leave, he smacked his butt lightly, laughing smugly in the end.

Louis walked slowly to the bathroom because the pain was stopping from doing things right, his tummy was hurting and it was like he was going to throw up at any moment and he could still feel Bruce’s hands around his neck and he wasn’t still breathing right and his head hurt because of the sudden amount of air he breathed when his neck was free and because of all the stress and crying.

After washing his face and getting some cream on his recent and old bruises, the boy went to the kitchen and started cooking dinner. When it was almost done, Louis settled the table and went to the living room to call Bruce in his usual soft tone, going back to the kitchen to finish everything right before the man came in.

“How’s the food?” Louis asked with a sweet smile on his lips, which faded once Bruce’s cold eyes met his own.

“It’s really good love.”

“Thank you.” Louis bit his lip. “Is it okay if I make you a question?”

“Depends on what the question is.”

“Huh… what happened at your work? I mean… for you to leave now…”

“Doesn’t matter, all you need to know is that I’ll be back tomorrow at 8 like always.”

“Oh, okay… sorry to ask.”

No other word was pronounced again, the only noise coming from the small TV on the corner of the kitchen. It was always too quiet in that house. Louis lived in fear. He didn’t want to say something wrong, something that would upset Bruce or make him sad, leading to bruises and cuts on his fragile skin.

Walking to the university was his favorite part of the day, so as for being there. He almost fell like a normal person, talking to the other students, smiling and laughing… but then someone would give him that worried look, or even ask him what had happened to him, the reason to all those bruises.

Those looks came mostly from his teachers.

Walking home was the worst, especially that dreadful moment where he opened the door, he always tried to get ready for whatever could come, but it would always catch him by surprise.

The boy still remembers the first time Bruce hit him. It was all because he went to a friend’s home to make a paperwork and forgot to tell him. Bruce got jealous, told him that if he didn’t tell him he was there was because he had something to hide, because he was fucking him behind his back.

He slapped him right across his cheek, so hard it cut him.

That was the quietest moment on the house, the moment Bruce realized what he did, the moment he realized what happened. There were tears caused by the pain Louis was feeling but also because of the meaning of it, it had hurt him in his heart as well.

Bruce apologized right away, kissing Louis’ cheek so softly and hugging him, promising he would never do that again, because he loved him with all his heart and he had just lost his mind on that moment.

But it never really stopped.

Every little thing Louis said, every little mistake earned him a slap or a punch. There were days Louis could barely walk to the university, but he would still go, because he didn’t want people making questions about him missing and because if Bruce heard him complaining about his bruises or how something hurt him, he would hit him again.

So, no, Louis’ life was not easy at all and he was exhausted all the time, he had to take care of the house, cleaning, cooking for Bruce, his clothes had to be simply perfect for him to dress and he still had to study to get good grades, because even though Bruce hated the fact Louis’ went to the uni, he would hit him if he got a bad grade or something.

But still… he loved that man with his heart and soul, because he was not Bruce’s fault. Louis was the one who did almost everything wrong, he was always a mess and Bruce was a really good man to always forgive him and still love him.

Bruce was a good man in Louis’ heart and eyes.

The problem is… Louis was blind.

“Baby.” Bruce called.

“Yes?”

“I have to leave now.”

“Okay.” Louis got up. “Do you want me to cook something tomorrow? I can take it to your work, if you want.”

“No, it’s okay. I can eat something there, don’t worry.”

“Okay.”

Louis washed the dishes and dried them while Bruce got ready to leave. When he was drying the last glass, he felt a pair of strong hands on his waist and a kiss was planted on his neck, which got him shivering against Bruce’s body.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I’m sorry, you know I don’t mean to hurt you but… I lose my mind every time and I’m afraid to lose you. You spend all day around those filthy students and I’m afraid you’ll ditch me for one of them.”

“I just had to study for an exam, I was going to wash them as soon as I get home. I’m sorry if I upset you.” Louis explained, lowering his head as he took a deep shaky breath. “I will never leave you, Bruce. I love you.”

“I love you too. See you tomorrow.”

“I’ll miss you. Bye.”

Bruce got out of the kitchen and, as soon as Louis heard the sound of the door opening and then closing, he let out a sigh.

There was no doubt in his mind and heart that he loved that man, no matter the atrocities he would to him, but, sometimes, he just couldn’t stop his mind from thinking if there wouldn’t be something better saved for him, a better life. Not that he was complaining, he knew the effort Bruce was making in keeping Louis with all his flaws, but… couldn’t he get any better?

When he was done washing the dishes, he slowly walked upstairs, straight to the bathroom, groaning because his muscles were sore because of Bruce, because every inch of his skin was burning and it hurt him almost to even blink.

The boy took off his clothes and got in the shower, where he stayed for so long he didn’t even realize the time passing, but Bruce wasn’t home to tell him he was taking too long on the shower so he had to take the chance.

He washed his body carefully, trying not to get too much shower gel on his bruises which was an actual challenge, he let the hot water relax his muscles but it wasn’t much either, he was just too sore, and he washed his hair with the shampoo Bruce had picked him because he thought it smelled good.

When he was done, he poured some cream into his hand and spread it across the bruises that people would most likely see.

Louis placed a towel around his waist and walked to the bedroom he shared with Bruce every night, where he dressed his pajama and got on the bed, slightly groaning with the pain on his back.

For a moment he kept his eyes open, watching the nothing around him, because the lights were out and he could see nothing but the darkness.

A bit like his life.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this is not a good chapter, so... yeah, please leave a comment! :)

When Louis woke up on the following day, he was met with pain, pure and real pain, on every inch of skin Bruce touched the day before. He tried to get up, making some ugly faces as he did so, wondering if it was a good idea to go to the university on that state, but he just had to, otherwise people would start wondering even more and making question and all of that.

“Ouch… ow…” The boy whined.

Louis got up from the bed a few seconds after, walking to the bathroom to take another shower, because he was just too sore to be true. When he finished taking his shower, he went back to the bedroom, humming a song he had heard at school, looking at his clothes, trying to find something to dress.

Bruce bought all of Louis’ clothes, he bought what was more appropriate for _his own_ boyfriend to wear, which, in Bruce’s mind, was something baggy and basically neutrals, which was the total opposite of Louis’ personality.

Of course the boy still had some colorful and fit clothes on his wardrobe, but he was only allowed to wear those when he had a date with Bruce or as long as he wasn’t going to leave the house during the whole day, which didn’t really happen because he had to go to the university every single day. Except for the weekends obviously, but he was too lazy to dress up on a weekend.

He didn’t mind all the clothes policy though, he just wanted to make Bruce happy, even if he had to lose his personality in order to make it happen.

Louis went downstairs, walking slowly to the kitchen and grabbing an apple which was going to be his breakfast, because Bruce told few weeks before that he was getting fat and that he hated fat people, so he didn’t want his boyfriend to be one of them. It kind of hurt Louis, he always had some problems with his weight and his bum, but he loved Bruce and he wanted the man to love him back so he had started a strict diet, where he would only eat apples. An apple, for breakfast, an apple for lunch, an apple as a snack… and he would only eat at dinner, but not too much.

He grabbed his backpack and got out of the house, smiling when the sun light reached his face, warming it a bit. Louis loved the sun, everything was better when the sun was shining, walking to school was better and more colorful.

When he got to the university, Louis noticed that something was different, something was going on and, this time, it was not related to him, because, for the first time, there was not one single person looking at him.

Every day, when Louis walked to the university, or got inside the class room, he would found someone staring at him, maybe wondering what the reason behind all his cuts and bruises was. But not on that day, no. people were busy whispering about something else, someone else Louis was sure, because there was always someone to talk about, people would never mind their own business.

“Louis!”

“Oh, hi Liam!” The boy smiled.

“How are you tod- oh…” Liam stopped talking once he saw finger marks on Louis’ neck. “Lou what happened?”

“Oh… huh… I-I fell…”

“When are you going to tell me what’s really going on? Come on, man! I’m not stupid.”

“Please Liam, don’t.”

“I just… I care about you! I wanna do something about it.”

“Do what? Talk to him? Have you forgotten what he did to Fred? When he tried?”

“Yeah, I know…” Liam lowered his head.

“Just… don’t do anything, I love him Liam, I will always love him no matter what and, besides, it’s always my fault, I’m the one who always messes things up, just… he’s been too patient with me for too long, its normal that people get tired of someone as messy as me, I get it.” The boy explained, a smile on his face as he talked about Bruce, always the same smile full of love, despise everything the man did to him.

“Okay…”

Liam wanted to help his friend, he really liked Louis, I mean, there was no way you couldn’t like Louis, he was just likable, way too likable, but he was also scared of what Bruce would do to him once he did that.

Fred was a friend of the two and he found out about what was going on between Louis and Bruce and how Bruce treated the poor boy. The guy tried to help Louis, tried to get him away from Bruce and warned Bruce and, coincidence or not, he went to the hospital two days after. Barely alive.

However Liam couldn’t stand watching the guy he loved getting slowly killed, it hurt him to know everything that was going on and being able to do nothing.

“Oh! What’s everyone talking about today?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone was whispering when I got here…”

“Oh I guess it’s about this new guy no one really likes… I’m not really sure…”

“Of course you don’t know, you live in a total different world.”

“Oi! I’m sorry if I mind my own business, Miss Gossip.”

“Ew, no… that looks like a gossip girl thing! No way! I’m just…”

“Curious.”

“Precisely.”

“As usual.”

“Now you’re being mean.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, I still like you.”

“Sweet.” Liam whispered, making Louis laugh. “Come, let’s go to class.”

“Okay.” Louis agreed, but, the moment he started walking, he bumped against a wall he didn’t know that was there, which made him fall onto the floor. “Ouch… Liam I swear to God that wall wasn’t there this time.” The boy complained as he sat on the floor and looked up, his blue eyes meeting some green ones. “Oh.”

“I’m sorry. It was my fault.”

“I… no, I… huh… I should have looked, I…”

“Need a hand?”

“Huh… y-yeah… I guess…”

The green eyed mystery stretched his long, muscled arm to grab Louis’ small hand so he could help him get up and when he did, Louis was met with the boy’s chest, just how tall the guy was. When he looked at his green eyes, he felt something like a shiver, something he never felt with Bruce…

“Thank you.” Louis said, looking down.

“It’s the least I could do, since I knocked you down.”

“This happens to me all the time, I…” Louis lied. “Sorry.”

“I don’t mind at all.” The guy said with a smile, showing off his dimples and making Louis blush slightly. “I’m Harry.”

“Louis.”

“Well, see ya…”

“Yeah…”

“Well… see ya.” Liam mocked, elbowing Louis lightly.

“Oh shut up.”

“He was hot.”

“That was embarrassing.” Louis protested.

“Clearly, ‘this happens to me all the time’ was your worst lie ever, but…”

“Liaaaaam!!”

“Just saying.”

“Not helping.”

“Well, it’s not like you have to worry about it.” Liam said. “You have Bruce, right? He thinks you’re perfect the way you are.”

“He… he’s going to kill me if he finds about this.” Louis murmured as he lowered his head, thinking about Harry, the guy he had just met and about Bruce, his boyfriend, the love of his life. “Let’s go to class.”

“Alright.”

Both of them started walking slowly to the first class they’d have on that morning. Louis was way too worried to even walk straight or to notice Harry was right behind him on that class and Liam was worried he might have pushed his friend too far with the comment he made, so you could say his conscience was way too heavy on his legs to make him walk faster.

Liam loved Louis and he would anything within his grasp to help Louis and make him happy, so when they were at the class he couldn’t stop thinking about what he said on that morning and how he needed to apologize because Louis was sad and he knew he was because of what happened and what he said. So when the class was over he decided he was going to fix what he did. He was going to make Louis happy because he knew school was one of the few places he knew the boy was happy.

“Lou?” Liam called unsure of what to say.

“Yeah?” Louis said as he stopped walking, a smile on his face as usual, which would always make Liam wonder how was he able to smile with all that was going on with his life and his stupid ass boyfriend.

“I’m sorry.”

“About what?”

“What I said… about Bruce.”

“Oh, it’s okay… I guess.”

“No, it’s not, I should never have said that, I…”

“Liam, seriously. It’s okay.”

“But-“

“I understand, it’s your way of seeing things, but…” Louis cut looking straight at Liam’s eyes. “I know Bruce loves me with all his heart. It may not look like that sometimes, but I’m a mess, a useless piece of shit and Bruce is just trying to turn me into someone better, a better person, I know it and I understand it. No one can really love me the way I am, so I’m really lucky to have him by my side to help me. He loves me, Liam, I know that. He’s been pretty patient with me and sometimes he loses it but… who wouldn’t? Right? I’m so grateful for everything he does to me, please don’t ruin our love.”

“I don’t get it. I’m sure there’s someone else out there that loves you just the way you are because you are perfect, Louis. Maybe you’re not looking hard.”

“I’m not even looking. I have Bruce. That’s all I need.”

“I just… I don’t know… I think I just wanted to help you…” Liam said with a sigh.

“You’re a great friend Liam, but… I’m fine, really.”

“I’m worried.”

“You don’t have to.” Louis smiled and started walking again in front of Liam who just stared at the boy.

“I wish you could see how much I love you, Lou…”

“Said something?”

“Nope…”

“Then come one! We’re going to be late.”

“Coming.”

Both Louis and Liam walked quickly to the classroom, talking about some random stuff Harry wasn’t able to listen to. A smile appeared on his face as he watched Louis walking, that boy was just wonderful and completely beautiful. Harry would do anything to bump against him once again, but he had a feeling that was telling him that messing with the boy would bring him troubles and he couldn’t get into more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, English is not my first language, so I'm really sorry if you found any mistakes.
> 
> And I hope you liked it ^^


	3. Chapter 3

“Bruce?” Louis called.

“In the kitchen.”

 _Shit_ , the boy thought to himself. He was probably going to be beaten up again for coming home later than Bruce. The man had tell him that he could go to the university but he _had_ to be home once Bruce arrived, he couldn’t arrive later or he’d be punished.

“I’m really sorry, Bruce. I went to buy some groceries for dinner tonight and- you’re cooking.” The boy cut himself, shocked because Bruce was walking around the kitchen to get the ingredients he needed for whatever he was cooking, but, most of all, he was shocked because, waiting for Louis was a smiley Bruce.

“It’s okay, baby. Do you want to help me?”

“Yes!” Louis said immediately, bright smile on his face.

“Then give me a kiss first.”

Louis made his way to Bruce, getting on his tiptoes to kiss the man. Bruce got his arms around Louis’ tiny body and the boy hummed in appreciation as he felt the man’s muscles holding him with love.

And that is why Louis loves Bruce, because he always makes things better.

“What do you need?”

“Can you set the table?”

“Sure.”

“Great. Love you.”

“I love you too.”

When Louis was done with his task, he helped Bruce bringing the food to the dining room. They usually ate at the kitchen, but that had to be a special day, because it was rare to get home to a smiley Bruce, so Louis was just kind of playing along with it.

They both ate in silence like any normal day, the only sound coming from the news. Bruce hates the noise and everything related to it, so of course he hates when people talked too much when they were supposed to be shut, for example, at lunch or dinner. Louis was a loud person who loves to talk and would love if he could tell Bruce about his day, but, since Bruce hated it, he would eat in silence.

“Are you done?” Bruce asked.

“Yes, I’m going to wash the dishes.” Louis said, getting up, but, when he was about to grab his plate, Bruce pulled the boy to him, making him straddle him, his hands on his bum.

“I think you can do that tomorrow, right?”

“Right… mmm…” Louis agreed and moaned when Bruce kissed his neck.

“Good boy.” Bruce whispered in approval. “Let’s go to bed.”

“Okay…”

 

(…)

 

Louis woke up and an instant smile appeared on his face, even though his body was a little bit sore from the event of the previous evening. Of course Bruce was only in a good mood the day before because he planned on fucking Louis that night and he did it… hard. And of course Louis didn’t mind, he loved Bruce after all, right?

The boy stretch his body in a way that made him occupy the whole bed, groaning a bit because of the pain from his old bruises and because he was still a bit tired.

Bruce wasn’t there already of course, he would always get up really early so he could go to work. He was the owner of the company and he was pretty busy all the time, barely had a day off and Louis was more than used to it, obviously, but, for once, he just wanted to wake up next to him, wake him up with kisses and cuddle a little before getting up, especially since they had sex the night before.

Even an insignificant note like those romantic movies would already be something, but Louis wasn’t living a love story and, deep inside, he knew it.

He was just too blind to realize it.

After taking a shower and get dressed, he went downstairs and ate breakfast as he watched TLC, it was his favorite channel and he just loved “Say Yes To The Dress”, he loved the idea of wedding and getting married, something he would never have with Bruce because the man told him they were fine just the way they were and a wedding was a waste of his time.

When he was ready, he made sure the house was cleaned and perfect and took his backpack and left the house, making his daily walk to the university, slowly as just like any other day, to enjoy the view, not just because it was his favorite part of the day but also because he was in a good mood for obvious reasons so everything seemed more beautiful.

“Good morning Louis.”

“Good morning Liam!”

“It’s nice to see you this happy right in the morning.”

“I’m really happy today.”

“Broke up with Bruce?”

“Asshole.”

“Sorry.”

“He was just… really sweet yesterday, you know? He even made dinner and then we-“

“Stop right there, I don’t wanna know.” Liam cut Louis, knowing exactly what he was going to say, which got him instantly angry and jealous. He already had a feeling about what might have happened when he saw Louis’ bright smile, but, still, he was hoping, hoping that it was something else, anything else.

“You should be happy for me, Li.”

“I am, I really am glad he didn’t hurt you, I just-“

“Hurt who?” A raspy voice asked and the boys’ head turned immediately to meet a pair of beautiful green eyes. “Sorry, I accidentally listened to part of the conversation. Huh… good morning…”

“Hi.” Liam answered, cold.

“Good morning, Harry.” Louis replied, a smile on his lips because that was Louis, really, smiling at everyone. “And… me and Liam here… huh… we-we were talking about a movie I saw… yesterday…”

 _Worst lie ever_ , Louis thought to himself.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m going to my class.” Harry said in an obvious tone.

“Oh, so… you’re in our class?” Liam asked.

“Yes.”

“I didn’t see you.” Louis said.

“I sat on the back.”

“Oh.”

“We should get going then.”

“Yeah.” Both Harry and Louis agreed, talking at the same time, which got them both laughing.

“I love your laugh.” Harry said genuinely, almost out of the blue, making Louis blush lightly. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay… thanks.” The boy bit his lower lip, nervously.

“Louis, let’s go.”

“Kay, come with us Harry, if you want.”

Louis and Liam started walking and Harry followed behind, watching Louis walking. It was an odd thing to do, especially coming from someone like Harry, the one everyone feared, but… he felt like he could stare at Louis the whole day, just how pretty the little thing was.

“Lou?” Liam elbowed Louis, after the class started.

“Yeah?” Louis whispered.

“I need to tell you something… about Harry.”

“Go on.”

“I heard some people talking about “the new curly guy” and I couldn’t help but listen to what they were saying. The things I heard… we better not be friends with him.”

“What do you mean? He seems like a really nice person, Liam…”

“They were saying he almost got arrested… the luck of having a good lawyer was on his side. And he was kicked out from plenty of schools. And he was always in trouble, beating people and stuff like that.”

“God…”

“I… I don’t trust him.”

“We should talk to him and make it clear.”

“Louis!” Liam shouted and the teacher looked at him.

“Is everything alright, Mr. Payne?”

“Huh… yes, Miss Evans, I’m sorry.” Liam apologized with his most polite and sweet smile.

Liam and Louis spent the rest of the class in silence, they didn’t want to get kicked out because of, according to Liam at least, some stupid discussion about a new guy they barely knew. Louis, on the other hand, couldn’t stop thinking about what Liam said and he was determined to find out if it was true or not, so, when the bell rang, he started walking straight to the curly student.

“Louis you can’t just go and ask him about this.” Liam stopped him by grabbing his arm and, one second later, there was no sign of Harry,

“Why?”

“Because! Okay, would you like to have people asking you about your bruises all the time?”

“No…” The boy answered and swallowed.

“See? That’s why you can’t, it’s part of his personal life, his… private life for God’s sake, it’s rude.”

“But I can’t simply stop talking to him because of some stupid rumors people decided to come up with.”

“Yes, you should.”

“Well, but I won’t.”

“What about Bruce? Huh? What if he finds out your friends with someone as dangerous as the curly?”

“I… he’d kill me.”

“Precisely.”

“But not because he’s supposedly dangerous.”

“Oh do tell.”

“It’s because he’s hot.”

“You’re a waste of my time.” Liam said frustrated, already giving up to knock some sense into Louis’ thick skull.

“I will be careful, Liam. I don’t want Bruce to know I have a lot of… male… friends, so I won’t be like hanging with him and shit like that, okay?”

“Ugh, language.”

“Sorry.”

“You can trust me Li.”

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, like I said on my other fanfiction, I've been terribly busy because of work, but I will try to update more often, I promise. Things are in its order now and I'm already used to to it and all, so I have more free time :)
> 
> And I hope you liked it and thank you if you're still there and waiting for me to update, means a lot to me ^^
> 
>  
> 
> AND English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes you may find :D


	4. Chapter 4

For the first time ever since he started dating Bruce, the most of Louis’ bruises were gone and his skin was almost clean for the man didn’t hit him for almost two weeks. The boy couldn’t even believe how lucky he was but his fear was getting bigger each day, simply because he was expecting to get smacked every time he got inside their home, but he didn’t.

Bruce was pretty happy for some reasons unknown to Louis, one of them being work as Bruce told him, and apparently a huge deal he made that would make his company grow even bigger, the other one… Louis better not even know about.

“Good morning, Louis.” The raspy voice belonging to Harry said.

“Good morning Harry.” Louis greeted with a warm smile.

Both Harry and Louis got to know each other better since they had to do a pair work together for the Literature class and also because, later, was chosen to guide Harry through his first days and through the whole year because, according to his principal, Harry was different. Of course that woke Louis’ curious side, he wanted to know how exactly different Harry was.

What was that supposed to mean?

He wanted to ask Harry about that ever since he was told that, but he was afraid he wouldn’t like and he didn’t know him that well yet to ask him that kind of stuff.

”Have you seen Liam?”

“No, sorry.”

“Oh…”

“He’s probably in class already.”

“Yeah.” Louis smiled.

“I need to ask you something.”

“Yeah?”

“Give me your number.”

“What? What? Why?”

“You asked what twice.” The curly boy laughed.

“Sorry…”

“I… I just need it because we’re working together on this thing and because you’re kind my tutor so…” He sighed. “I mean, you don’t have to, you know? I just… never mind.”

“No! No, it’s not that, I…”

“Look, I’m working my ass off for this school thing to work, but I’m going to need your help or else I can’t make through the year without failing.”

“I’m really sorry Harry, I really want to help you, but I need to ask Bruce first.”

“What? Ask what?”

“If I can give you my number…”

“What? Why? Who is he?”

“My… boyfriend.”

“Oh… oh… I… oh…”

“You said oh three times.”

“Yeah.” Harry laughed nervously. “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend…” He frowned. “But why do you need to ask him such a simple thing?”

“He might not like it, so… it’s better if I ask than do it behind his back, he’ll get really mad if I give my number to people without ask him first.”

“So what? It’s not like he’s going to break up with you because of that.”

“More like break me.” The boy said to himself.

“What?”

“Nothing.” Louis bit his lip. “Let me ask him first and explain things to him. I’m really sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“We should get going or we’ll be late.”

“Yeah…”

 

(…)

 

“Bruce?”

“Yes, baby?” The man said, not taking his eyes off his phone, which bothered Louis a bit, but he couldn’t mention it.

“I need to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“But… I don’t want you to get mad at me…”

“Louis.” Bruce warned, looking at the boy with cold eyes, finally paying attention to him. “You better not get on my nerves.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t fucking apologize every damn time!” He said, a little louder, making Louis body shake. “Now tell me what it is.”

“Okay, so there’s a new student that came a few weeks ago and his grades aren’t very good because he had dropped school and I think now he’s back again, but that’s not the point. The school’s principal told me I had to be his tutor till he gets better and used to the school and all…”

“He’s a guy?”

“Y-yes…”

“Is he hot?”

_Trigger question._

“I don’t know, I didn’t notice that…” Louis lied, making Bruce fall, somehow. “I only have eyes for you, Bruce and I love you with all my heart. I always will.”

“I love you too, Louis.”

“Oh and there’s another thing…”

“What?”

“The guy, he… he asked for my number because in case he had questions about school, but I told him I had to ask you first.” Louis spoke fast, his hands in the air like he was trying to tame an angry dog.

“I really don’t like that.”

“Oh, it’s okay…”

“Okay, you can give it to him, but… no late texting or calls and I wanna know about everything you’re talking, or you’ll suffer the consequences, I’m trusting you, okay?”

“Okay, thank you so much, I love you so, so much!” Louis said with a huge smile on face, jumping to Bruce’s lap to kiss him.

“Hmm love…” Bruce moaned, once Louis pressed his bum against the man. “We should go to the bed…”

“The couch is good.” Louis whispered, too eager.

“No way, what the hell, Louis?” Bruce said, getting the boy away from him. “We’re going to the bedroom.” He said getting up.

Louis knew Bruce was going to say no to his request, but he still tried nonetheless. Bruce just wouldn’t try something different, Louis would ask many times but the answer was always the same and having sex was always the same thing and, sometimes, Louis felt like it was something he had to do, like homework and homework is boring.

“Okay…”

 

(…)

 

One last moan was heard before Bruce collapsed right beside Louis, both of them panting and sweaty. Louis planted a kiss on Bruce’s shoulder, noticing he didn’t even move at the loving action which hurt him a bit.

“Shower?”

“You go first.”

“Oh… okay…”

Louis got up, not worrying about being naked, after all, he’s been with Bruce for almost two years, and they’ve crossed the shame line long ago. The boy grabbed some cleaned boxers from the drawer and walked slowly to the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom.

Once he was inside, he turned the hot water and got inside, enjoying the warmth against his skin. A few tears mixed with the drops of water. Something was wrong, he could feel it and the fact that he couldn’t mention it was only getting him more frustrated, like it was hard to breathe.

Bruce would always shower with him after sex, it was the most similar thing to cuddle that Louis would ever get, but he didn’t this time, also, he’s been paying more attention to that phone of his than to Louis, his boyfriend.

He felt cheated.

“Louis?” He heard Bruce’s voice from the outside and a little bit of hope filled his heart.

“Yeah?”

“Are you done?”

“Almost, why?”

“I need to shower too, something happened at the company again.”

“Oh… okay, just a minute.”

“Okay, hurry up baby.”

The boy did his best to take a quick shower when he was so tired and, when he was done, he dressed his boxers and dried his hair, leaving the bathroom right away.

“Bruce? You can go.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you leaving after the shower?”

“Yeah.” The man answered and the blue eyed boy lowered his head. “Hey, I’m sorry, love, but I really need to go.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me.” He tried to smile. “I just hope you’re careful driving because it’s so late and that you can fix whatever happened.”

“This is why I love you.”

“I… I love you too Bruce.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this is a crapy chapter even though it has some important things... idk... I'm not very happy about it, but I really just wanted to update because you've been amazingly patient with me... sorry...
> 
> Also, English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any mistakes


	5. Chapter 5

When Louis woke up the next day, he faced disappointment as he realized Bruce was not by his side. He hoped he would only come later and cuddle with him, he wanted to have felt the cold body against his warm one, he wouldn’t mind that day, but he didn’t.

The young boy got up and dressed a cozy sweatshirt, since it was starting to get cold, and a pair of dark jeans, along with his converse. He looked at himself in the mirror to make sure he wasn’t too overdressed or Bruce would beat him.

A few minutes later, maybe ten, he left the house, eating an apple, his usual breakfast because, once again, Bruce wouldn’t like him if he was fat and his thighs and bum were something he always hated because they were too big so he had to be extra careful about his weight. And that’s when the idea came to his mind: maybe he should start going to the gym. Yeah, that was a great idea, he would look really great for Bruce.

He just had to ask him about it.

“Louis!” He heard Liam’s voice call a little later, when he was near the school. “Good morning!”

“Good morning Liam!”

“You seem sad…”

“Oh, it’s nothing…”

“I really hope so… but, hey, it’s good to look at you… and see no bruises.” Liam said, honestly, saying the last part in a lower tone.

“What?” A sudden raspy voice spoke.

“Harry…”

“What were you saying, Liam?”

“Nothing.”

“Louis.”

“It’s nothing Harry.”

“Louis, let’s go.”

“See you in class?” Louis asked.

“Yes.” The curly boy said as he watched Louis walking away. He was sure about what he heard, Liam said _bruises_ , he said something about louis having bruises, he could swear and now he was worried, he wanted to know what was happening and he wanted to protect Louis from it, whatever _it_ was.

 

(…)

 

“Like a flower without the sun, / Like life is being slowly taken away. / Death there will lay. / Oh, what have I done?” Louis read the poem and Harry couldn’t help but stare at the way his lips would move and the passionate way he was reading the lines. “Harry, are you even paying attention to what I’m saying?” Louis asked, accidentally looking directly at Harry’s green eyes, looking at his notebook right away, feeling his cheeks getting hotter.

“Yes, I am…”

“Then what does the author meant?”

“I… okay, look, I wasn’t paying attention, but even if I was I would never get what he’s saying. Like why is there always hidden meaning, why don’t they say exactly what they want to say? I don’t get it.”

“Look, maybe they thought they would be great authors in the future and they thought to themselves “hey, why not fuck the student’s grades?”, but you got to embrace the suck.” Louis shrugged, making Harry laugh. “What?”

“You sounded funny and you cursed.”

“Oh, my God, really?” Louis asked shocked, covering his mouth with both hands. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, but don’t worry, I don’t mind.”

“But I shouldn’t curse… oh, God… he will kill me…” Louis said to himself.

“Who?”

“What? Huh?”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. Back to homework.”

“Louis-“

“Shush! Now, what the author was trying to is that he misses the person he loves, basically.”

“Why didn’t he say that? Why the flowers and the sun and all of that shit?”

“Because, you know, the flowers need sun in order to survive and the girl he’s talking about it’s like his sun and he needs her to survive so that’s why he also says here “Like life is being slowly taken away”, the flower will die without his sun and so will he without her.”

“But that doesn’t make sense! He can’t die because he’s not with her.”

“It’s poetry, Harry. Be romantic!”

“So what? You’re saying that I have to act like an asshole in love so I can understand?”

“That’s not it… I don’t know actually… I mean, I-I can’t explain, I always seem to get what this author means, so…” Louis let out a frustrated sigh. “I really don’t know, Harry.” He laughed at himself and how confusing he was being.

“So, you manage to understand what other people say, but you can express yourself.”

“Yeah, I guess… I never really don’t have enough time to explain myself, so… oh.” His blue eyes widened when he realized what he said.

“Louis, are you alright? I mean, is your life good?”

“What? Of course it is, I love my life.” He lied.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“What about your boyfriend?”

“He’s perfect Harry.” Another lie. “I’m really happy.” And another one. “Don’t worry.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Oh no, don’t worry.”

“It may not look like that sometimes… well, most of the time, but I worry.”

“Thank you.” Louis said, making Harry smile and the blue eyed boy realized he loved the curly boy’s smile with the dimples and all. “Oh! Good news!”

“What?”

“I can give you my number.”

“Oh, that’s great!”

“Give me your phone so I can write it.”

“Oh, right…” Harry shifted on the library chair so he could take his phone from his back pocket. “Here…”

“Kay… done.” Louis said with a smile.

“Why did you write your name with the ghost emoji?” Harry asked, laughing.

“Because it’s like me, I guess…”

“Like you? What? But you’re so quiet…”

“Yeah… I am, right?” Louis lowered his head, of course he seemed quiet and calm in everyone’s eyes, that how Bruce wanted him to be, but he was an extremely fun and loud person and he loved to make people laugh, tell jokes and prank people.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” The young boy forced a smile. “I should get going.”

“Yeah, me too. And, huh, thanks for today.”

“It’s okay, I like to help. Besides, it’s my job.” The boy laughed.

“Yeah.”

“Oh, I want to ask you something.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t call me or text me, unless I tell you, please.”

“What? Why?”

“Because… he may not like it and get mad.”

“Your boyfriend?” Louis nodded. “What? That’s ridiculous! You shouldn’t have even ask him for permission to give me your number, what an asshole!”

“No, don’t talk like that. He just… it may be hard to understand him sometimes, but I know him well and I know he controls me a bit because he loves me. I’m sure you understand.”

“Not really.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never fell in love, I guess.”

“How’s that even possible? I mean, huh, sorry.”

“I don’t know! I guess I never found the right person.”

 _Until now,_ Harry thought to himself, not totally sure why he even had those thoughts about Louis, after all he barely knew the guy. There was simply something he didn’t recognize, telling him that Louis might be the one. It was like a sudden and odd warmth, and whenever the boy was around he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Oh…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this was a crappy chapter, but I really wanted to update as fast as possible... I need honest comments :(
> 
> So... Harry never fell in love and that's the first thing you know about the guy ba-bam! haha


	6. Chapter 6

It was another night that Louis had to spend all by himself because Bruce said he had a lot of work, so he couldn’t go home that night. The blue eyed boy was obviously sad when he heard the news but there was nothing he could, he couldn’t even complain about it because Bruce would tell him he had to work to feed him and bought him all of the shit he had. It’s not like Louis actually asks for stuff, he knows he will be called a spoiled brat if he does it, so he couldn’t understand Bruce on that matter.

Not like he could complain about that either.

Louis went down the stairs and when he saw his phone he remembered he had given Harr   y his number so, with no time to think about it before, he called him, shivering a bit when his raspy voice answered on the other side.

“Hi, Louis.”

“Huh… hi…”

“Why are you calling me?” Harry asked curiously.

“Oh, I… it’s just because I’m alone tonight and I was bored, so I thought about calling you.” Louis took a deep breath. “Am I bothering you?”

“No, of course not.”

“You were doing something, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, kind of…”

“I’m so sorry, I’m-“

“No, don’t!” Harry cut. “Huh… I mean, I was almost done, so…”

“What were you doing?” Louis asked as he sat on the couch, a small smile on his face.

“Exercising.”

“Oh, wow… huh… I-I mean…” Louis said, blushing furiously.

“It’s okay.” Harry chuckled.

“Do you exercise a lot?”

“Yeah, a lot and every day.”

“Why? I mean, it’s good to be healthy, but…”

“But what?” Harry asked, laughing.

“Just… I don’t know, you don’t want to exercise too much… I think…”

“I fight, Louis.”

“What do you mean?”

“Boxing.”

“Wow. That’s really cool.”

“You think?”

“Yeah.”

“My mum thinks it’s dangerous.”

“But like… oh wait…”

“What?”

“Is it like that type of boxing where you get actually hurt?”

“Yeah…”

“Oh, my God…” Louis said more to himself, making Harry chuckle. “She’s right, it’s dangerous. Are you trying to get yourself killed or something?” The boy asked, his accent even more

“Not at all, I…” The curly boy took a deep breath. “I have anger issues and it helps me in a healthier way.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“It’s a normal thing to ask, Louis. Don’t worry about it.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure?”

“How old are you?”

“I’m twenty, almost twenty-one.”

“Oh…”

“Yeah, I’m too old to be a freshman, but…”

“That’s what I was thinking, what is grandpa doing in the uni?” Louis joked making Harry laugh out loud and that also made Louis laugh. Louis was the type of person to make others laugh, he just didn’t have the confidence to do it because of Bruce. The man would never laugh of his jokes no matter what and he even called him stupid once.

“Grandpa is just trying to get lucky with the younger ones.”

“Ew, disgusting.”

“Well, well, well.” Bruce’s voice sounded out of the blue, making Louis panic and hang up his phone immediately, saying nothing to Harry who was looking at his phone in surprise. “Now, who were you talking to?” The man asked, walking towards Louis.

“Bruce, pleas-”  The boy didn’t have time to finish what he was saying for he was interrupted by a fist on his lips. That punch was followed by another one on his belly and another and another, followed by one more, this time on his chin, so hard it made the boy fall off the couch where he laid in pain.

“I asked you a question.” Bruce shouted but Louis was so terrified his mouth couldn’t form any words. “Answer me!” He shouted once more, kicking Louis twice on his legs.

“I-I was t-talki-ing to-t-to Harry…” He said between sobs.

“Who’s that?”

“That-that g-guy I t-told you ab-bout.”

“I don’t know any Harry.” One more kick, on the belly, making Louis want to throw up.

“The on-ne from m-my school, he asked f-for my numb-ber, I asked if-if I could g-give it to… to him.”

“What were you two talking about then?”

“School s-stuff.”

“Better be telling the truth or you’ll be punished.” Bruce threatened, grabbing Louis by the shirt, making the boy face him.

“I am, Bruce. I always tell you the truth, don’t I? Because I love you more than anything in this world.” Louis said.

Every time Louis wanted to calm Bruce down he just needed to tell him how much he loved him or that he would never leave him and stuff like that. Louis thought it was because he loved him too much and he was afraid of Louis leaving him for good so he had to hear those things.

Oh, how wrong he was.

“I don’t ever want to come home to you talking to another man.”

“Okay…”

“Anyways, I just came home because I needed some papers.”

“Do-do you want me to get them for you?”

“Yes, they’re on top of the table, on my office.”

“Kay…”

Louis placed his fingertips on his hurt lips, realizing it was bleeding, as he slowly and painfully climbed the stairs to get Bruce the papers he needed. Louis was not allowed to go to Bruce’s office very often, the man had claimed it as his personal space and the boy usually only went there when he was supposed to clean the space and even that had to be with Bruce’s permission and only when he wanted it.

The blue eyed boy got inside Bruce’s office and went straight to the table where he found the forgotten papers. He didn’t even dare to look around because of how usually afraid it was. He didn’t want Bruce to get mad at him or something for peeping. So, as soon as humanly possible he got out of the office and almost ran downstairs.

“These?”

“Yes. Thank you, love.”

“No problem.”

“You know that I love you, right?”

“Right. And I love you too.”

They shared a quick kiss and Bruce left the house and, the second he did it, Louis let his body fall to the ground, almost lifeless. Louis felt powerless and he hated that feeling more than anything in the world.

Louis had had a rough life because of his father, in the past, all related to his sexuality. His father was a homophobic so he would always put him down and he would always feel like shit and, above all, powerless, because he couldn’t say anything or he’d get kicked out of home. He felt the same way about Bruce but he always tried to ignore it because he loved him more than anything, but as time passed and with the words his friend, Liam, kept telling him, he started realizing that, maybe, Bruce wasn’t his best option.

No matter how much you love someone, it’s not normal to suffer so much with that person and you always need to love yourself first.

Maybe Louis will learn this in time.

 

…

 

Louis woke up in pain, obviously. The events from the previous night left his body completely sore, beside, he had fallen asleep on the couch, watching TV, so he wouldn’t feel lonely, so he had a slight pain on his back.

The boy got up and walked to the bathroom where he took a quick shower because he was already running late for school. He didn’t even ate breakfast, he didn’t have time for it and, besides, he didn’t want Bruce to think he was fat and leave him because of that like he once said he would.

Harry was about to cross the university gates when he saw Louis, walking slowly and with what seemed to be a black eye, so he decided to wait for him to see if everything was okay with the boy.

“Good morning, Louis.”

“Hi, Harry.”

“Is everything okay? What happened to you?”

“I fell.”

“When?”

“Yesterday.”

“You were fine yesterday.”

“No, I wasn’t. I fell after I called you, that’s why I hung up all of a sudden.”

“How many times did you fall?”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, Louis. You like you’ve been knocked out.”

“Talking like a true fighter, eh?”

“Louis, I’m serious. What happened to you?”

“I fell.”

“Bullshit.”

“Harry-“

“Louis, listen to me and answer me truthfully. Was it your boyfriend?”

“N-no.”

“Look, relationships aren’t meant to be like that, I hope you know that. Domestic violence must be stopped.”

“Yeah, says the guy who has anger issues and never fell in love.” Louis snapped, widening his eyes after processing what he said. “Harry, plea-“

“Don’t.” Was the only thing Harry said, before turning his back on Louis. He didn’t do it because he was hurt, he knew Louis was just trying to stand up for the man he loved, he couldn’t blame him for that, he just didn’t want to get angry at Louis, he was afraid he might hurt the boy or hurt him with his words. However, even though he was kind of mad, he couldn’t help but get worried, Harry has been fighting for a while and he could recognize a black eye caused by a punch, besides, Louis could barely walk which meant he was clearly beaten.

He was going to find out what the hell was going on with Louis and the reason behind the black eye and all his possible bruises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh well, how cliche, Harry's a fighter blah blah blah... but I just thought it would be a good idea, besides, that won't turn him into a dark little piece of shit, he will always be a cupcake hahaha most of the time, but the thing is: he fights to control his anger issues, which is kind of a normal thing 
> 
> Also, he finally sees Louis bruised and he wants to know what's going on with him, will he find about it or not? What do you think? :3 And yeah, Bruce beat Louis again but this is what the story is about, so... 
> 
>  
> 
> ps: English is NOT my first language, so, I'm sorry for any mistakes you may and will find! :)
> 
> And I hope you likes
> 
> And this is probably my biggest Author's Note of all time, but who cares? :3


	7. Chapter 7

Harry decided that he was going to talk to Liam about Louis, he wanted to know what was happening to the boy and he was going to find it out. And that’s what he tried to do during the entire day, but he wanted to speak to the boy alone obviously and that revealed to be harder than he had initially imagined.

Harry thought that, maybe, Liam was Louis’ only friend but he changed his opinion as he got to observe the boy’s day. Harry realized Louis was a really happy and friendly person, he was nice to everyone and that is why everyone liked the boy so the curly guy couldn’t understand how someone could hurt such a beautiful person the way his boyfriend whose name he had forgotten did.

When school was over he saw Louis waving at Liam with a smile, making his way to his home. Harry slowly walked in Liam’s direction finding amusing the fact that Liam watched Louis’ every moves carefully.

“Hey.” Harry said.

“Oh… hi.” Liam said, feeling a little bit uncomfortable.

“So what’s his story?” Harry asked, pointing at Louis with his head.

“Excuse me?”

“Look, I know you don’t really like me because of whatever you heard about me, I don’t care, it’s probably just a bunch of filthy lies, but I can see you care for Louis and, as weird as it may sound, so do I, so answer me.”

“Why should I do that? I don’t even know you, why should I be telling you about what’s happening on other people’s lives?”

“You shouldn’t, but you will.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Do you like him?”

“What?”

“Do you like Louis?”

“Of course I do, what’s not to like about him?” Liam said, a softer tone on his voice, hiding the smile he’d make every time he thought about Louis and how much he liked him.

“Then help me helping him.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“He doesn’t want to.”

“So you’re just gonna sit there and wait for him to destroy his life?”

“I…” Liam sighed.

“Thought so.”

“You’re not the right person to deal with it.”

“Why are you even saying that? You don’t even know me, said it yourself.”

“People paint you really dark, okay?”

“They better.”

“See?”

“I’m not as bad as they say I am and I want to help Louis.”

“I’m scared you’ll tell everyone and then Louis will be mad at me and then what?”

“I won’t, I promise. Seriously, Liam, you can trust me, all I want is to help Louis.”

“I hope you’re telling me the truth or he will kill me.” Liam said, playing nervously with his fingers. “Okay, so…” He took a deep breath. “Louis has a boyfriend, his name is Bruce.”

“Yeah, he already told me that. He’s the problem, isn’t he?”

“Yes. I think… well, I’m almost one hundred percent sure Bruce is a little too violent.”

“You mean he beats Louis?”

“I think he does, I’m sure he’s the extremely jealous type and sometimes Louis has bruises all over his body and there’s black eyes and cuts and his lips always bruised…” A tear slipped and Liam cleaned it so fast Harry almost didn’t notice it.

“Yeah… I knew it, I saw his eye…”

“It hurts a lot you know, because he’s my best friend and I’m so useless, there’s nothing I can do because Louis thinks he doesn’t need any help and because, deep down, Bruce is scary as hell and I know he will turn me into dust if I come between him and Louis.”

“Glad I’m not afraid of him.”

“You should, he’s really dangerous.”

“So am I.”

“You don’t know him.”

“So what? I don’t care who he is, nothing in this world gives him the right to hurt someone like Louis.”

“I’m happy you’re trying to help him.”

“You can help me too?”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“H-how?”

“Don’t worry, Louis won’t know you’re in this, at least, not until he’s safe, that is, if you want him to know at all.”

“I have to think about it, I don’t want to get in trouble.”

“He’s your friend.”

“But I’m scared…” Louis shook his head and looked at his feet, moving them uncomfortably.

“You should be scared of the fact that your friend is getting slowly killed day by day. Tell me: what would you do if one of these someone showed up to tell you that your friend died.” Harry asked watching Liam’s body tremble slightly. “No, don’t make that face because you know that’s what’s going to happen. It happened before, victims of violence usually end up dead.”

“Stop saying that word!” Liam shouted, making some students look at both of them. “I will help you.”

“Good.”

“But I don’t want him to know… just yet. I don’t want to lose his friendship.”

“I won’t tell him, he won’t know.”

“Great, because, and you need to know this, Louis is really sensitive about Bruce and everything he does to him. Louis think that Bruce is just teaching him how to be a better person because of how useless he is, he thinks Bruce is doing all of that for love, so he will always try to protect him no matter what and if you keep pushing him he will get mad.”

“Got it, I’ll play softly.”

“Please, I don’t want you to hurt him too.”

“I won’t.”

“I still don’t like you.”

“You don’t have to, you just need to stand me.”

“Okay.”

“See ya.”

“Bye.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, okay... small chapter! BUT I feel so inspired right now and I just started writing the next one so I will post it really fast this time :3
> 
>  
> 
> ...hopefully...
> 
>  
> 
> What do you think of Liam's "pact" with harry btw?
> 
> NOTE: English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistakes you may find...


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE: In case you read this story and found the typo where Harry says: “A guy with a black guy is never a guy who’s fine.”, I just want to clarify this: I would never, ever try to offend people and I wouldn't definitely come up with racist comments and stuff like that, sorry, it was a typo. I really don't like racist people or people who spread any kind of hate, so I wouldn't do it let alone on purpose. I am really sorry for any kind of misunderstanding... 
> 
>  
> 
> You guys have no idea (or maybe you do) how nerve wrecking it is the fact that you have the chapter written and all but the little shit of your computer DOES NOT WORK!!! Like, seriously, I was so sad because I said I'd update fast and then this happens, I'm so sorry ugh :(

On his way home, Louis couldn’t stop thinking about Harry, he knew Bruce would kill him if he could read his mind but he couldn’t control his thoughts. He was worried actually. The way that curly guy looked at him, he knew he was determined to find out what was happening between him and Bruce and he was a fighter so he must have seen a lot of black eyes, Louis was sure he could tell the difference between falling and being punched.

Almost everyone could actually.

But that was not the only reason, he also had the feeling Harry spent the day watching him, like he was trying to find something and that’s what was scaring him for real, because, if he tried too hard, he would definitely find something. He had everything under control with Liam, he knew the boy wouldn’t dig too deep because he was afraid and because he trusted Louis. Harry, however, was different, he just knew it, the guy was a fighter, after all, he wouldn’t give up just like that, it was not on his blood.

Bruce wasn’t home when he got there, he had texted Louis saying he would be a little late but he would be there for diner. As soon as the boy got home he started getting things ready for diner so it would take him less time to start.

While he waited, he sat at the kitchen table and started making the worksheet for his Literature class. He only had to deliver it a month from that day on, but he couldn’t get too focused on school stuff when Bruce was around, or he’s get beaten up, so it was better for him to start as fast as possible, doing little by little.

The sound of the door opening echoed, meaning Bruce was already home and Louis couldn’t stop smiling at himself because he had done a bit of his work and he still had had time to set up the table and cook diner, which would only take him around five seconds more, so Bruce couldn’t complain… well, not about that at least.

The time passed and not one single word was said. Louis knew Bruce quite well by now so the boy knew there was something on the man’s mind that was worrying him, so he also knew it was better for him if he didn’t talk.

“I have to go back.” Bruce said.

“Oh… a-again?”

“Yes. Don’t even think about complaining, I do it so you can have food to eat and a place to sleep.” He answered, his tone low and calm.

“I… I just miss you… that’s all…” The boy lied. Well, he kind of said the truth, kind of lied. Of course he missed Bruce, but the man he loved and that loved him back, the man that would be nice to him, and not the one that would hurt him and make him feel like shit. Even though he knew it was for his own good, to make him a better person, sometimes he couldn’t help get tired of his lifestyle.

Sometimes he would wonder if there was someone better out there.

“I miss you too baby, and a lot, but you know work is really important to me.”

“Oh, no… I get it. Your work is really important, I didn’t mean to sound selfish. Maybe when I start working I will understand you better.” Louis said with a big smile, which faded with Bruce’s answer to that.

“You don’t have to work. I want you to stay home, taking care of the house and all of that. In fact, I don’t even know why you go to the university, but oh well.”

Louis let out a soft sigh. It was worthless to talk about that matter.

“When will you be back?”

“Why do you wanna know? So you know if you can talk to your new friend?”

“No. I won’t talk to him either way, we don’t have any work to do… I just wanted to know because of lunch and dinner and… yeah…”

“I’m not sure but I will text you, don’t worry.”

“Okay…”

“Also, I might go on a business trip in a few weeks.”

“Oh…”

“I didn’t want to leave you here, but you’ll probably ruin everything if you go. I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry about me, please. If it’s a good opportunity then go, I don’t want to hold you back. I don’t want you to regret or…” He took a deep breath. “I’m babbling, I’m sorry.”

“You just want to get rid of me, don’t you?”

“What? No! Like, oh, my God… I will miss you so much! And I don’t even know how long you’ll be gone…”

“ _If_ I go, I’ll be out for at least two weeks, maybe more, but… I don’t know yet.” Bruce smiled and grabbed Louis’ hand. “I’m glad I have your support.”

“You will always have my support, Bruce. My support and my love, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, sure, baby.” The man looked at his silver watch. “I have to go now.” He announced as he got up, but hit slightly against the table, spilling a bit of sauce on his shirt. “Fuck!”

“I’ll get you a new one. Just a second.” Louis spoke fast as he got up, running upstairs.

The boy walked in their bedroom and took a perfectly starched shirt, walking down the stairs in the matter of seconds, almost tripping over his own feet. When he got to the kitchen, Bruce was standing there, waiting for him, shirtless.

“Here.” He said, looking at his boyfriend and sighing.

Bruce made Louis look at him with his index fingertip and kissed the boy’s lips. Louis’ hands went to the man’s naked chest, feeling the soft and warm skin, humming in pleasure when Bruce bit his lower lip.

“Baby, I need to leave.” He sighed when he saw Louis’ pout, dressing his shirt. “I know, I know, I would love to stay here as much as you, but I really need to go.”

“Miss you already.”

“I’ll be back tomorrow night.”

“Okay…”

Bruce left the house, a long breath leaving Louis’ mouth when the door closed. He loved Bruce more than anything in the world, but sometimes it was simply too much. He didn’t knew exactly what was going on with him. He was not sure if it was time affecting their relationship just like it affects all of the others, or if he was just tired of suffering.

The boy washed the dishes and ran upstairs because his favorite TV show was about to start and he couldn’t watch it when Bruce was home because he thought it was stupid. Actually, a lot of people would say “Say Yes to the Dress” was a show for women, but Louis could spend the whole day watching the channel.

He had only dressed his pants when the bell rang, startling the boy. Louis immediately stopped doing what he was doing to run down the stairs so he wouldn’t keep Bruce waiting for too long. He was sure the man had forgotten something, obviously along with his keys, so he was already angry for that and Louis was smart enough not to make even angrier.

Louis opened the door and smiled, hoping to find Bruce, but, instead, he was met with a curly guy, Harry, who was smirking at him because he was shirtless, a fact that Louis was unaware.

“H-Harry?”

“Hi.” He said in a low tone, biting his lip at the end which got Louis nervous and shaking

“What the hell are you doing here? Oh my God, if Bruce sees you or finds out, I’m so-“

“Shirtless.”

“What?”

“You’re shirtless.”

“Oh, good Lord.”

Louis’ cheeks were hot as he ran upstairs to get a shirt. He didn’t do it on purpose, he just ran because he thought he was Bruce and he knew how much Bruce hated people who kept him waiting forever. When he finally had his clothes on and was properly covered to receive a guest in his house, he went down the stairs where Harry was still waiting for Louis, outside the house.

“Oh, my God. You… you can come in, you know that, right?”

“Well, no one had invited me yet.” Harry answered, looking at his feet as he got inside the house, slowly closing the door behind him.

“Okay. So, what are you doing here?”

“I guess I just wanted to know if you were okay.”

“Did you really had to come all the way here for that?”

“Wow… I feel really welcomed, thank you, Louis. Really.” Harry said in a dramatic tone, his hand placed on his chest.

“Don’t overreact, Harry. I’m just worried, really. I don’t want Bruce to get home to you here in his house, he will kill me, he almost did when he found out I was at the phone with you, I don’t want to imagine what he would do if he foun-“

“What?”

“Shit.” Louis said, once he realized what he said in the middle of his babble. “I-“

“What did he do to you? What is he _doing_ to you, Louis?”

“Nothing. Harry please, don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t do that, that thing where you people try to save me or whatever you like to call it, but I am fine. Period.”

“A guy with a black eye is never a guy who’s fine.”

“Please.”

“No. Louis, he’s been beating you, isn’t it?”

“He just wants what’s best for me.”

“He’s not the best for you! Come one Louis, you deserve so much better than that, than all of this! I could be so much better for you…”

“That’s not what matters! The problem is that I’m not good enough to anyone, he’s helping become a better person. I am so messed up! Fuck!”

Tears were rolling through Louis’ face and Harry did the first and only thing that came to his mind when he saw those tears and how fragile he was looking, was hugging him. Louis’ eyes widened when he felt Harry’s oddly comfortable arms and tried to push him, but he was too strong.

Lately, everyone seemed stronger than Louis.

“Louis. I just want to protect you.”

“I don’t need it, Harry.” Louis spoke against Harry’s neck, making the curly boy shiver.

“I don’t care.”

“But I do, because I… I love him.” He took a deep breath. “Please, leave. I don’t want him to see you here or leaving or something-“

“Or he will beat you.”

“Harry, please.”

“I’ll leave because I don’t want to get you into trouble, but I won’t stop.”

Harry slowly stepped away from Louis. The blue eyed boy had to control himself so he wouldn’t raise his arms to stop Harry from moving away from him, so he wouldn’t break the hug. He felt like he could hug Harry forever. God knows what Bruce would do to him if the man could read his thoughts.

The curly guy walked out of the hall and left the house, closing the door, the sound kind of waking up Louis to the reality.

Harry was in his house and Bruce was going to kill him because he was sure he was going to find out. He always does, somehow.

However, Harry’s words were floating inside his head. Louis was slowly, extremely slowly realizing that Bruce wasn’t the best person in the world and definitely the best person to be with him and that he deserved better than that. Louis just learned to push those thoughts to the back of his mind, ignoring them, taking its strength away so he wouldn’t do anything stupid.

Then Harry came and suddenly the thoughts are getting stronger and Harry’s words just seem to have an effect on him.

Was Harry right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IS LOUIS FINALLY GETTING IT? OH GOOD LORD, THIS BOY IS SEEING THE LIGHT! hahahahaha anyways, yeah, Louis is realizing that Bruce is eww eww
> 
> Did you like this chapter? How are you guys liking this story? Like what's your favorite thing/part/character? :)
> 
> And, once again, I'm so sorry :c


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still need to revise this because it's late but you guys are so amazing and patient, always waiting for the chapter, so I really wanted to post this one today.
> 
> Also, good news! I already have the whole storyline for this, aka, this thing where I (extremely resumed) basically write everything that's going to happen on the story so, hopefully, and most likely, I won't have any writer's block and I'll make the most of my time (I guess that's how you say it haha)

Louis woke up on the next day and he really didn’t feel like going to the university at all. He was going to find Harry obviously and he didn’t know how to react in front of the guy or what to say to him because of what happened the previous day.

But of course he couldn’t just stay home, because, even though Bruce was constantly reminding him how much he hated the fact that Louis wanted to go to the university, he would get angry he failed at anything or if he missed a day. He told him that he wanted to do it, at least he should do it right instead of embarrassing him.

After eating his usual apple for breakfast, he grabbed his backpack and left home, checking it really quick just to make sure everything was in its proper place.

As he walked to the university, he could stop thinking about Harry’s words and how they kind of make him blush. He said he would be better for him than Bruce and Louis couldn’t stop thinking about it, imagining what it would be like if he was with Harry. Then, he mentally slapped himself.

“Good morning, Louis.”

“Hey, Liam.”

“You look pretty happy, isn’t Bruce home?”

“Pretty funny, Liam. Really.”

“Face it, Louis!” Liam’s tone was harder. “Every time he’s not around, you seem so much healthier. He’s killing you… no, he’s doing worse, he’s slowly destroying you and you will get to the point no one can save you because you’ll be dead inside.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Me? There’s nothing wrong with me, I’m sure there’s something wrong with _you_!”

“You’re right, everything is wrong with me and that’s why I’m with Bruce, because he’s making me a better person!”

“That’s exactly the opposite of what he’s been doing.”

“Goodbye, Liam.” Louis said, turning his back on his friend.

A tear slipped from Louis’ eye, which he cleaned right away so no one would realize that he was crying. Not that anyone cared about it, he thought. He couldn’t believe his own best friend was against his boyfriend, he wanted Liam to support him, that’s what friends are supposed to do.

He just didn’t know that Liam telling him that was him helping.

“Louis!” He heard the raspy voice shout, making him shiver and the boy started walking faster so he wouldn’t meet Harry. “Louis… hey… God.” The voice started getting closer, meaning Harry was running towards him. “Louis.”

A large hand grabbed his arm and he did what his instinct told him, which was shrinking. Harry’s green eyes widened and he let go of the boy’s arm, like he had given him a shock. When Louis realized what he had done, his eyes widened as well.

“I…”

“I didn’t mean to scare you… or hurt you…”

“You didn’t hurt me, I just… I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“You thought I was Bruce, didn’t you?”

“Harry…”

“Be honest.” Harry murmured, lifting Louis’ chin so he was looking at him.

“I… y-yes.”

“I will never hurt you, Louis. You can trust me on that.”

Harry started getting closer to Louis, who was getting more and more nervous at all the proximity. The blue eyed boy could already feel Harry’s warm breath against his cheek, but, when things seemed to be right about to happen, the bell rang, startling both of the boys.

“Shit.” Harry muttered.

“Huh… I-I…” Louis could feel his cheeks burning and Harry had to admit it was the cutest sight. “I… we-we have to go… huh… to class. English class! Yeah… English class…”

“Yes, we should go.”

Both Harry and Louis walked to their English class, Louis walking faster than Harry because of how embarrassed he was of the situation and also embarrassed because, for a second, he felt sorry that the kiss didn’t happen.

Louis got inside the classroom, sitting right next to Liam, which was his usual place. Harry sat behind him. Looking at his best friend’s face, Louis could see he was hurt because of his words and how he reacted and, deep down in his heart, he knew Bruce wasn’t worth losing his best friend and that is why he ripped a piece of paper of the last sheet of his notebook and wrote one single word.

_Sorry._

“I’m not mad at you.” Liam spoke in a low tone.

“You should be.”

“I can’t get mad at you. You’re a lucky little shit.”

“Still… I shouldn’t have talked to you like the way I did.”

“Same for me. I just hate to see you suffer because I really like you, you’re my best friend…” Liam paused when the teacher looked around, speaking even lower when he returned the conversation. “It hurts to see you hurt, you can’t tell me he doesn’t hurt you.”

“He does… sometimes… but I now it’s for the best.”

“It’s not, Louis. Pain may be inevitable, but suffering is optional. I hope you chose to stay safe.”

“I don’t want us to fight again, so…” Louis looked at what the teacher was writing on the board, which was his way of telling the boy that the conversation was over.

Mr. Johnson, their English teacher, had told them to read one of Shakespeare’s works at their choice, they could read it on their free times, whenever they wanted and sometimes, he would even dedicate the class to that and he would just let them read. Now, he was writing on the board about a pair work they would have to do about the readings.

When he was done writing all the details, Louis copying them to his notebook, his teacher started calling names of the list of students, pairing those who had been reading the same book. Louis had chosen King Lear, because he already had the book, given by his grandmother once, and was just waiting for a chance to start it.

“Well, well… I’m surprised mister Styles here didn’t go for the obvious.” Mr. Johnson said in a monotonous tone, since almost everyone chose _Romeo and Juliet_. “Your colleagues should learn something! Ah! Mister Tomlinson… glad to know you’ve read the same book, which is great because you’re his tutor already, so… yes, you’ll be a pair.”

Louis cursed his grandmother at that time. It’s not like it was hard to make Harry understand the things, he was pretty smart once you got used to the fact that he gets easily distracted and if you had a little patient, but Louis felt like things became a little odd after what had happened on the night Bruce left and he showed up and, after that morning, when they almost kissed, Louis didn’t know if he would have the courage to speak to the green eyed boy again.

“Next time, tell me which book you’re reading.” Louis whispered, extremely low so Harry wouldn’t heart them.

“What? What happened?”

Louis sighed, too lazy to whisper Liam the whole story so he silently ripped another piece of paper and resumed what happened at his house and right before the English class. Liam took the small paper and read it, his eyes widening at the end, mouthing a shocked _what_.

“Yeah.”

_well, he’s better than Bruce_

_I thought you didn’t like Harry_

Liam shook his head and sighed. He couldn’t tell Louis that he and Harry had talked before and that he realized that the curly boy only wanted the best for his best friend, just like he did, and that he realized that because he affirmed that he wanted to get Bruce away from Louis.

_don’t judge a book by its cover I guess_

Louis looked at Liam with his curious blue eyes, trying to figure it out what changed Liam’s opinion, almost as if trying to red his mind, because he knew Liam too well and he also knew he was hard to convince once he had his opinion about someone formed, just like he had about Harry.

“Now, get together with your pairs, so you can start defining some aspects of your work.” Mr. Johnson said.

“See you in the end of class.” Liam said, winking at Louis, who waved at him.

Louis sighed and turned his chair, so he was facing Harry, who was behind him. The curly boy smiled at him, showing his dimples that Louis found himself thinking about how much he actually liked them.

“Louis? Are you listening to me?” Harry asked, waving his large hand in front of Louis’ face.

“What? Huh… yes…?” Louis blushed and looked down, playing with his trembling fingers. “Sorry, I was just… huh… just…”

“Staring?”

“Yes, I mean no! No…” Louis blushed even harder. “I like your dimples… ugh… I mean, I don’t… it’s just…”

“So, you don’t like my dimples.”

“That’s not it… ugh! Stop, Harry.”

“I’m not doing anything.” Harry laughed, capturing Mr. Johnson’s attention.

“I can see that you two are having fun, it’s delightful to see that there’s still people with a good amount of common sense in this country of idiots and monkeys that simply missed the kind’s progress.”

“Wow…” Harry murmured, as Louis smiled sweetly and nodded at the old, grumpy man.

“You haven’t seen a thing. Mark my words, Styles.” Louis laughed silently.

 

...

 

“Hi Bruce!” Louis greeted when the older man arrived home, kissing his cheek. “I missed you.”

“Hey, baby.”

“I’m making dinner.”

“Hm, good.”

“Also, I have something to tell you.”

“What?”

“Remember that book I was reading for the English class? The one I told you about and you even said you’ve read it once?”

“The… Shakespeare one?”

“Yes!”

“What is it?”

“Well, our English teacher decided to make a pair work about it.”

“I’m not liking it already.”

“I…” Louis took a deep breath. “I got paired with that curly guy I’m tutoring.” Louis bit his lower lip because of how nervous he was.

“No way! You are not going to do one more work with that guy. No, wait… you are going to drop university because I’m sick of all of the shit that comes with it!” Bruce said, his tone getting higher and higher at each word.

“Bruce, ple-“

“No, Louis. You’re not going anymore.”

“Please don’t do this to me.”

“There’s no way I’m changing my mind. You’re mine and you should stay at home doing what you’re supposed to do!”

“Bruce, please. I’m completely useless and I feel like I never do something right, I always mess things up and you always need to fix them for me. You have your company and all of the great things you already accomplish and you’re really good at what you do and what about me? Nothing! You’re perfect and I… I don’t know, I just wanted to be a little more like you, I wanted us to be equals instead of me being a burden… a worthless piece of shit.”

“Louis.” Bruce walked to the smaller boy, who had to fight the urge to cringe. “I didn’t know you felt like that. God, baby, you’re none of that.” Bruce’s strong arms rounded Louis’ body, hugging the boy and kissing his forehead. “Just never forget that you’re mine and mine only.”

“I know. And I love you, you should know that.”

“I know.”

“Can I please keep going to the university?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you, Bruce.” Louis sighed, relieved. “Oh, my God! The dinner!” Louis broke their hug and run towards the kitchen, hearing Bruce’s laugh behind him. “Oh… thank God.”

“Is it good?” The man asked, in a sweet fake tone, hugging the boy’s waist from behind.

“Yes.”

“Great, I’m going to take a shower and then we can eat on the living room, if you want and then we’ll go to bed, because I miss you a lot…”

“I miss you too…” A small, soft moan left Louis’ lips when Bruce kissed his neck and his hand softly palmed his clothed cock.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry's the light on Louis' life \0/   
> I'm loving writing this part where Louis is finally getting conscious of how shity his life is 
> 
> ALSO, OMG SOME SHIT IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN NEXT CHAPTER, HELL YEAH \m/


	10. Chapter 10

On the following day, after making Bruce’s breakfast and eating his apple, Louis went to the university and when he was about to get in the classroom to have the first class of the day, someone tapped on his shoulder lightly, making him jump a little.

“You’re a little too skittish, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess…”

“You’re alright?”

“I couldn’t be better.” Louis answered with an extremely wide smile.

“That’s good to k- wait… what’s- what’s that on your neck?”

“What?”

“That…” Harry’s long fingers lifted Louis’ chin, allowing him to have a better look at the blue eyed boy’s neck. “That’s a hickey. God… fuck…”

“Harry, come on… people do stuff like that.”

“This is disgusting.”

“Harry-“

“No, Louis! Just don’t…”

Harry quickly turned his back on Louis, his fists clenched, showing how angry he was. He couldn’t believe that Louis let that monster touch him after everything the man did, after what he, himself, told the boy, and after they almost kissed.

The curly boy was seeing red, he could feel the anger fill his veins, his view was unclear and all he could see in his mind was pictures of him beating the hell out of Bruce, till he was begging for him to stop and finally regretting all the things he did to Louis.

Walking inside the bathroom, he shouted a younger kid, who ran away barely finishing his business. It would have been really fun to watch if he wasn’t as mad as he was on that moment.

The green eyed boy took a deep breath and punched one of the doors of the bathroom, leaving a small dent in there. He looked at himself in the mirror and let out a frustrated groan when he realized he was out of control. He couldn’t lose it, not at the university, not for one bit. He promised himself he was going to make it.

“Harry…” Louis’ small voice sounded, filled with fear. “Did you… did you just… do that to the door?”

“I… yes…” Harry admitted. “It was unintentional.”

“You talk a lot but you’re just like him, you’re just like Bruce. When something doesn’t please you, you decide to break everything around you!” Louis spoke, his voice gaining a hint of trust, getting louder at each word.

“Don’t compare me to that fucking coward, Louis! Bruce is a disgusting man who takes advantage of other people’s weaknesses, only so he can feel powerful. And he does the same to you, every single day, but you don’t seem to care and that is fucking… ugh! I don’t even know! But it makes me so angry, fuck!”

Louis had tears threatening to fall at any moment by the time Harry stopped talking. He couldn’t believe he thought like that about Bruce.

“You can’t just say that just like that!” Louis shouted.

The blue eyed boy did the first thing that came to his mind, he ran away and he ran way towards his house, not caring about the classes he was going to have that day, because he knew that, if he stayed at the university, he would have to cross with Harry and he was too hurt to stand it.

When he was home, he let his backpack fall onto the floor and he laid on the couch, crying as he watched Cake Boss.

 

 

Louis got up a while after, getting things ready for Bruce to get home, which included making dinner, and, on that day, placing his stuff on the bathroom so he could take a shower as soon as he got home.

When he was getting out of the bathroom, his phone started ringing. He thought it would be Liam, probably asking why he didn’t go to the university, after all, he didn’t even see his friend, but he also knew that it was risky to call him after uni because Bruce could be home.

The blue eyed boy took his phone off his pocket and the name Harry was written in there. He sighed and decided he wouldn’t answer it, he was not ready to deal with him yet. But of course Harry Styles was not going to simply give up, oh no, he called three times more and, when Louis was done with the ringing, he picked up.

“God, what?”

“Thank God, he’s alive!” Harry said, sarcasm evident.

“Don’t use sarcasm on _me_.” Louis sighed. “What do you want?”

“Well, since you weren’t answering, all I wanted to know was that you were fine.” He answered and he was actually being honest. He thought something had happened to Louis and he was pretty worried, after all, he was trying to get him away from the man who was hurting him, he couldn’t hurt the boy.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Oh…”

“Look, I’m sorry for what I said… I mean, I’m not sorry because I know that everything I said was true, but I know how you hate to hear that stuff. I’m sorry for that and that only.”

“It’s just… I think I really like Bruce and…” Louis let out a frustrated sigh. “Everyone keeps telling me how bad he is to me.”

“Wait a second.”

“What?”

“You were pretty sure about your feelings for him and now you said you think you love him.”

“I…”

“Come on, Lou.”

“You called me Lou…” Louis sighed and bit his lip. “I don’t know, nothing makes senses in my life anymore… and this is just so frustrating. I used to be sure about everything in my life, I knew exactly why things happened, but then you showed up and everything seems to be changing and your words, they make sense sometimes and they… you… I don’t know.”

“Louis-“

“I have to go.” Louis cut. “Bruce’s probably arriving home and I still have to make diner.”

“You don’t deserve that kind of life.”

“Goodbye Harry.”

“Bye, Lou.”

 

…

 

On the following day, Louis woke up earlier than normal, so he could make a special breakfast for Bruce, with everything he knew the man loved, because, according to what he told him the previews day, it would the last breakfast made by Louis he was going to have for two weeks.

When Bruce woke up, he was a bit upset because Louis wasn’t by his side, but, when the smell of cooking invaded his lungs, he tried to let it go as he dressed the clothes Louis placed at the end of the bed.

“Good morning.” The man said, once he got inside the kitchen and saw his boyfriend, only wearing his boxers as he cooked him breakfast.

“Good morning, Bruce. I’m making breakfast, I have everything you like.” The boy said with a huge smile on his face.

Bruce simply nodded, not even noticing how Louis’ smile faded at his lack of reaction. It wasn’t his fault, he didn’t love him, but he was hot and a bit pretty so… he was just waiting for the perfect time to dump him, he already had someone and that someone was not a piece of shit like Louis, who was always messing things up and wanted to go to that stupid university.

You may be asking why was he so possessive since he didn’t even love him, but Bruce was never the type of kid to share his toys and things didn’t change a bit when he grew up. Louis was his and no one should even dare to look at him and if someone did… well, that would be Louis’ fault anyway for being too showoff, so he would punish him for that of course.

“So…” Louis started. “You know that English pair work?”

“How could I forget?” Bruce asked sarcastically as he sat down and started eating breakfast, not telling Louis how good the food was, or he would get lazy about it and wouldn’t do things right.

“Well… I wanted to ask you if Harry can come here so we can start doing it.”

“No way. I don’t want him in this house.” He groaned. “Find another place.”

“Well, then maybe we can do it at his house.” Louis answered, his sassy tone taking over his voice unintentionally.

“Don’t push me, Louis.” Bruce warned, making Louis uncomfortable, because of how scared he suddenly got. “Do it here.”

“Thanks.”

“And don’t forget to pack my stuff. I already have everything ready for it, I just need to you pack everything. And I want the house cleaned and diner.”

“Okay.”

“Bye.” Bruce said, getting up and heading towards the door.

“Bye.”

A little while after, Louis left the house too, with his backpack, and with his phone on his hand as he texted Liam, who was telling him how he got paired with a fake blonde, Irish guy who didn’t seem to give a damn about Shakespeare.

The day went by really fast.

Louis spent the whole day laughing because of how Liam was making impressions of the guy he had to do the English work with. Niall had moved in the beginning of the school year so he still had that accent that made him funnier than everyone and cuter, of course.

Louis spent the whole day avoiding Harry, dragging with him a confused Liam. He didn’t know how he should behave after what he told him. Of course he would have to be with him later, so they could do the English work, he would deal with it only when he really had to.

“So…” Liam started, both of them at the front gates of the university, both of them waiting for their pairs. “I still think the blonde kid’s not going to show up.”

“Have a little faith in him. I saw him checking you out.”

“What?” Liam chocked and blushed a little, making Louis laugh.

“Look at your face! Oh, my God, you’re too cute.”

“Louis, come on…”

“Liam, shut up. I think he thinks you’re cute.”

“That doesn’t even makes sense.

“And… I’m here!” Niall announced, showing up behind Louis, quickly walking to Liam’s side, making both boys a little confused.

“You scared me.”

“Yeah, sorry.” He asked. “What doesn’t makes sense, by the way?”

“What?”

“What you were talking…”

“Oh. Well, Liam was telling me how-“

“Let’s go.” Liam cut. “Bye.”

“Bye, Louis.” Niall said.

“Goodbye Niall.” Louis waved at both of the boys, still laughing, as he watched them walking away. He realized Niall said something, laughing so loud he could hear it from where he was standing, as Liam shook his head lightly.

“Louis…” Harry’s voice sounded next to him.

“Oh, hi Harry.” Louis answered with a smile. He was not going to let what happened on the previews day get in the middle of his good grades. “Come. We have a _lot_ to do.”

“What do you mean a lot? Don’t we just have to answer what the teacher asked?”

“Yes, but the answers to that will require a lot of work and study and…” Louis talked as he walked towards his house, followed by Harry. “Please tell me you actually read the book.”

“I did.”

“And did you get it?”

“Well… I know what happened, I’m just not sure if I get, like, why it happened.”

“I can explain it to you.”

 

…

 

It was around five when Louis rubbed his eyes and yawned. Don’t get him wrong, he liked Shakespeare, but Louis always hated the fact that his teachers would make him read stuff and write an extremely long and detailed essay about it. They took all the fun away.

“That’s it. I’m done. I can’t even read right anymore, none of this is making sense. We should keep doing this tomorrow, fresh thinking, or… it’s going to turn out to be a mess.” Louis laughed.

“Is that okay with you?”

“Yes, why not?”

“You know, because of _him_.” Harry asked, saying the last word as if it was a curse, something he deeply hated.

“Oh, it’s okay, he’s going to leave for two weeks, so…” Louis explained, getting up, followed by Harry. “He just… he can’t know about it.”

“I won’t be the one to tell him.” Harry frowned.

“What’s that face?”

“It’s just…” The curly guy stepped closer to Louis, touching his face lightly. “You don’t have to go through it.” The curly boy leaned in closer and Louis could feel his breathing on his skin, making him shiver and close his eyes unconsciously. “I’ve been dying to do this.” He said and his lips touched Louis’ so lightly at first that he thought he was dreaming, but, when he realized Louis was going to let him do it, he gained his trust and pressed his lips harder. His large hands slowly went to the bottom of Louis’ back, laying there.

“Harry…” Louis broke the kiss, looking down, trying to step back, but Harry’s hands didn’t let him. “I’m sorry, I… we can’t do this, _I_ can’t do this…”

“Yes, you can. You have the right to do what makes you happy.”

“Bruce makes me happy.”

“You can’t tell me that! You can’t tell me he doesn’t make you feel miserable and powerless, like a piece of shit. He probably tells you that so many times that you started believing it and that is why you think you can’t run away from him, because you started believing how useless you are, but you’re not. And you’re not happy with him, you have to stop saying that, you have to stop lying to yourself.”

“Please, leave.”

“Goodbye.”

“Bye.”

Harry nodded and left Louis’ house with his head down, feeling like he had completely failed the promise he made himself and Liam. He was slowly running out of ideas to turn Louis’ mind, he was actually starting to believe there was no way the boy was going to leave Bruce, no matter what the guy did to him.

He was growing more and more frustrated because he realized he actually liked Louis, like for real, and he cared for him and his wellbeing. The simple thought of Louis getting hurt would make him shiver and he barely knew him, but still…

Harry actually _liked_ Louis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I TOLD YOU!! SOME SHIT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN AND BA BAAM, THEY KISSED! YASS...   
> I'm so excited because this is when things heat up, shit will happen OMFG u.u can't wait u.u yay u.u
> 
> u.u
> 
> u.u
> 
> okay, enough... now, what do you think that's going to happen next? and I'm not sure if I already asked this, but, how are you liking this story so far? and is it accurate? :D
> 
>  
> 
> NOTE: English is not my native language, so I'm sorry for any kind of mistakes you may find.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to keep you all waiting, thank you if you're still there. I kind of wanted this chapter to be exactly what I wanted so I just kept changing it till I was satisfied with it. Also, I got a new laptop... y'all know what that means hahaha
> 
> Next chapter will be up sooner... I'm soooo excited about this next phase of the story ^^

Louis could still remember the first time his mum was mad at him and beat him. It was something simple, actually.

He was seven.

He was supposed to choose only one thing and he had to choose between a chocolate and a lollipop, but he couldn’t understand why he had to make that choice, why did he have to choose between the two things he liked the most. Why only one thing? Why couldn’t he take both?

Louis then decided he would take the two of them, he couldn’t just simply choose, so he told his mum he would take the chocolate and, another time, the lollipop and, when no one was watching, he placed the lollipop inside his little jean’s pocket.

When they were about to leave the store, something started beeping and, all of a sudden, there was a lot of security people around him and his mommy and they took the bags from her hands and they were taking everything out of them and his mum’s bag.

Everyone was looking and making comments.

One of the security guards walked towards him with a gentle smile on his face and asked Louis if he had taken something he shouldn’t have, maybe he took it accidentally and the blue eyed boy nodded lightly, taking the sweet from his pocket and handing it to the man.

That was the worst day of his life, because of the way his mother was looking at him. She wasn’t mad, she was sad, disappointed.

When they got home, Louis took the chocolate from the bag and his mother was quick to slap his hand, making the chocolate fall onto the floor and that was when she told him that she was really sad because of what he did because stealing was something really wrong and she was expecting him not to do it ever again.

He didn’t get to eat the chocolate. And for around four months his mommy would go shopping without him, leaving young Louis with an old lady that was their neighbor. He hated it, the lady was nice, but still… so he never did anything like it and he would always try to make his mommy happy and not sad or upset.

He could remember every detail of that day, however, he couldn’t remember all the times Bruce beat him and the reasons behind it.

 

…

 

A little while after Harry left, Louis had finished packing Bruce’s stuff. Everything was in its right place, and it was all cleaned and perfect, just like his boyfriend liked. However, because of the English work and because of what had happened with Harry, packing was the only thing Louis had done from Bruce’s list and he knew the man was going to be angry about it.

The boy dragged Bruce’s bag to the living room, almost dying because the man was already there, standing still and scaring the shit out of the poor lad.

“Shit!” He cursed-shouted.

“Language.” Was the only thing the man said, looking pretty angry.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just that… you-you scared me.”

“Oh, I wonder why.” He took a deep breath and Louis noticed his hands squeezing the couch, his fingertips a slight color of white because of the strength with which he was gripping it. “Let me see, maybe you weren’t counting on me getting home earlier, so that is why nothing is done yet.”

“No, I… I never wait till the last minute to make my tasks, I swear, it’s just… the English work took a lot of my time because, you know, it’s hard to explain things to Harry and-“

“Who?” Bruce dangerously asked, walking towards Louis.

“The guy I-I have t-to tutor…” Louis’ voice cracked the moment Bruce pushed him against the wall, his back hitting on the cold surface harshly. The blue eyed boy let out a small groan.

“I’m getting really tired of that guy!” The man shouted, punching Louis’ belly. “But especially you!” Another punch, this time, on the boy’s chin. “You can’t get your pretty ass away from someone with a fucking dick, can you?” Another punch.

Louis tried to take a deep breath, but he felt hurt and he felt offended. Bruce knew, better than anyone, that he never had sex with anyone else but him, even his first time was with him, so, of course the boy was hurt.

“Y-you kn-know… know that’s n-not true…” Louis managed to say, but that only gave him the right to another punch, his powerless body falling onto the floor.

“Don’t.” He cut. “You…” Punch. “Are.” A kick on the stomach. “A fucking…” Bruce pulled Louis by his hair, forcing him to get up, groaning and crying in pain. “Whore!” Bruce shouted and punched Louis so hard that he wasn’t able to hold him. Not like he cared.

Louis’ body stumbled back with the impact, hitting on a small table that had a jar with flowers on it, which fell on the floor getting shattered into pieces, the water and the flowers falling on top of Louis.

“B-bru… Bruce… p-pleas-se… s…” Louis coughed, spitting blood over his clothes and on the floor as well. Something he would have to clean after obviously. “Please stop.” He breathed.

“I will stop, when you stop acting like a whore!” He ended the distance between him and the boy, laying on the floor, caused by his previous punch. “When you start behaving like you are supposed to, like you are worth being by my side. I have a reputation to keep and you are definitely not going to be the cause of its destruction, not you nor anything.”

“I fucking hate you!”

Louis doesn’t know what the hell happened that made him got the courage to answer Bruce, especially to say something like that, but he did and he was happy he did it. Of course that happiness didn’t last long, because his reward for saying those words was a big number of punches and kicks on every inch of his body.

Bruce forced Louis to get up, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

“Bitch. You have everything you want and even more and you’re still a fucking brat.” He threw him against the floor and Louis felt various cuts being made on different parts of his body, done by the pieces of glass from the jar.

“I’m sorry…” Louis said, he would say anything just to make the man stop, he wasn’t really sorry. “I’ll be better… p-please…” He coughed. “Let m-me m-make you… d-diner.”

“Just fuck off, useless piece of shit. Everything better be cleaned when I get home.” Bruce muttered, grabbed the bag Louis had brought down and simply left, like nothing had happened.

Louis doesn’t know what happened next, he just knows that he closed his eyes and fell asleep, or something similar to that. Maybe he was tired because of all the bruises and how the scene drained all of his energy. Maybe he was tired of Bruce and the lifestyle he was living. Maybe he was simply tired of living.

Yes, he was tired of living.

So tired he believe he could die just right there. So tired, he felt like he could just stop wanting to live and it would happen, he would die. It was not suicide and it was not by any natural cause. He just stopped wanting to live and it just happened.

 

He wished Harry was there.

 

…

 

Harry got up on the following day, almost an hour earlier. He would do it every day because he wanted to exercise a little, take a shower and have breakfast before going to school because, as a fighter, he needed to be prepared and in good shape.

The curly boy checked his phone hoping that, in an extremely remote possibility, he would have a text or a missed call from Louis. He has been doing it ever since he got the boy’s number, he knows he won’t call or text but he just can’t help it, besides, Louis said Bruce was going to leave for some time in work…

Of course the man could still be at home but, deep down, he kind of knew Louis was never going to call him. Harry knew Louis would never ask for his help or something like that because the boy was too deep in love with the man who beat him, no matter how strange that may sound.

Like the guy had Stockholm syndrome or whatever.

Harry let out a frustrated sigh as he thought about Louis. He just didn’t know what else to say to make the boy change his mind about the monster he was living with and who was ruining his life and slowly killing him. He was starting to lose hope, but who could blame him? He had tried everything and came up with a lot of good arguments in their previous talks but Louis would, somehow, come up with a lame excuse to explain how it was not Bruce’s fault.

A little while later, Harry arrived at the university and was heading towards his classroom, hoping to see Louis’ usual bright smile, the smile that could make you think everything was okay with him and his life if the curly boy didn’t knew quite well what was going on. But there was no Louis. Instead there was a worried Liam who jumped on him the second he laid eyes on the curly head.

“Harry, have you seen Louis?” He shot. “I mean… huh… good morning, yeah… have you seen him?”

“Only yesterday, why?”

“He’s… he didn’t show up at the front gates as usual so I supposed he’d be here already but he’s not and… and he’s n-not answering my calls.”

“Maybe Hulk’s with him.”

“Who?”

“You know, his weak free sample of boyfriend. Hulk’s name is Bruce, which kind of makes sense if you think about it for just a little.”

“Yeah, kinda does… but Bruce’s not at home. He left for two weeks, I think and even if he haven’t he wouldn’t be at home by now.”

“Maybe something happened, I went there last night and I probably left later than I should have, I… look, I have no idea how that works, okay?”

“He probably found out.” Liam said and, just like his words pinched him, Harry started running. “Where you going?” Liam shouted.

“To find him, stay here!”

“But-“

“Mr. Payne, it’s so good to see you, you were just the person I was looking for.” The headmaster’s voice sounded right behind him and he knew there was no way he could follow Harry and help his best friend, but he also knew if Harry found Louis, the blue eyed boy would be in good hands.

He trusted Harry more now, in a way.

Harry sprinted towards his apartment’s garage who wasn’t really far from the university and climbed on his motorcycle, driving as fast as he could to Bruce’s house. The curly boy was silently praying that Louis was okay, praying for him to be late or something like that. He would hate himself if something had happened to the boy because it would be, in part, his fault, because he knew what Bruce did to the boy and he did nothing to stop him.

Only words.

But words mean nothing if you don’t do something to give them a meaning.

As soon as Harry arrived, he got off the motorcycle and immediately ran towards the door, knocking furiously on it, while calling Louis’ name, hoping for him to answer and to be okay, but deep down knowing that was not going to happen.

“Louis, please open the door. I am begging you!” He shouted but no sound was heard. “I’m getting in!” He shouted one more time.

Harry stopped a few minutes to think about how he was going to get inside the house. Hopefully the door wouldn’t be locked, so he might have a chance to break into the house, but it would require a lot of strength. He couldn’t care less though, he had to know if Louis was okay no matter what.

The curly boy stepped back a little and ran against the door, hitting hard against it, letting out a small groan. He looked around and realized there was a small tree on the garden, but of course there was one of those, the fucking house was just the typical perfect house with the typical perfect little family.

Just don’t let them look through the curtains.

Harry walked to the tree and broke one of the branches, using it to hit and break the door knob. When the thing was loose enough, he stepped back one more time and he only had to run against the door two more times before it burst open.

“Shit.” Harry let out a groan because of the pain on his shoulder.

He didn’t really know the house, obviously, not going there very often, but he knew where Louis’ bedroom was – the one he shared with Bruce, but that was something he couldn’t think about on that moment – and that was where he was headed, but something called his attention as he passed the living room. A small, almost inaudible, groan.

Louis.

“No… no, no, no, no, no…” He said to himself, walking inside the living room, not wanting to believe that that was Louis he was seeing. “Louis…” The curly boy whispered in horror.

There was pieces of glass on the floor where he was fallen and blood, dry blood everywhere. Louis’ blood, obviously. He had cuts everywhere, some deeper than others, most of them caused by the shattered glass, some by Bruce, he was sure. There were bruises, old ones mixed with the fresh ones.

The boy had his eyes closed, his beautiful baby blue eyes... His kissable lips were full of blood and with two or three cuts on them. His perfect cheeks were red, but not the kind of red Harry used to like seeing. His jeans were ripped from the glass and so was his shirt, but that he was sure was caused by Bruce because it was right near the neck.

“What did he do to you?” He asked, more to himself and blue eyes weakly met green.

“H-harry?” Louis called, his voice shaking and failing.

“Louis… God, I’m here.”

“Thank God…”

“Look, I’m taking you to the hospit-“

“N-no!” Louis said, loud, which took all in him. “P-pleas-se… d-don’t.”

“No, Louis! Hey! Stay with me! Open your eyes!” Harry spoke, shaking Louis’ body lightly.

“G-get me…” The boy coughed, blood coming out of his mouth. “O-out of… of here…”

“Lou-“

“Harry, please save me…” And that was the last thing he said before closing his eyes.

“No…”

 

 

 

 

 

[this is an edit I made a while ago for this fanfiction (link)](http://needylarry.tumblr.com/post/114048095629/i-made-this-edit-because-i-need-it-for-something)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Bruce is HULK haha :') he's the shit! What did you think of it?  
> Thank you for reading ^^
> 
>  
> 
> NOTE: English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistakes and, please, try to understand...
> 
> NOTE 2: check the edit! :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be a smaller one but like OMG I was so excited to update and I'm really excited for the next chapters and I just couldn't wait hahaha sorry :p the next one will be bigger, I promise u.u

Louis slowly opened his eyes, looking around, trying to recognize where he was, but he wasn’t successful. That was surely not the living room where he passed out and it wasn’t his bedroom either, so where the hell was he?

Everything around him was dark and not just because of the dim light coming from a lamp, standing on a bedside table. The decoration of the room where he was basically black: the walls were white, but the furniture and the comforter were black, there was laptop on top of a desk and even that was black.

The blue eyed boy tried to sit on the bed, letting out small groans of pain, his entire body was sore. That’s when he remembered everything that had happened. Bruce got home earlier and he had nothing done but his backpack which made him get furious and beat Louis almost to death and he would be dead if it weren’t for Harry.

“Harry!” He said to himself. Louis tried to get up from bed but stumbled back falling again on top of it. “Fuck…” He groaned.

“Hey, hey… you need to rest, baby.” Harry’s voice suddenly sounded and in the split of a second he was right next to Louis. “Are you okay?”

“I… my head hurts like hell… and I’m sore.” Louis answered, feeling like he couldn’t lie to Harry about it, like he had to do to Bruce about his pain. “Where am I?”

“I brought you into my house.”

“Oh…”

“You can go back… if you want.” Harry added quickly. “I just didn’t want to be there, since it’s not my house and all.” He explained.

“No, I… I don’t think I wanted to be there either, huh…”             

“I made you breakfast. Well, I think I did…” He laughed nervously and walked over the chest where he had a tray of food. “I don’t usually eat these stuff, but…”

“Thank you, Harry, but…” Louis thanked as he looked at all the food in front of him. it had hot chocolate, a croissant with ham and an apple. “This is too much food.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t eat all of this, I’ll get fat…”

“What are you even talking about?” Harry asked, shocked. Louis couldn’t possibly think he was fat, could he? How? “You’re fucking perfect, for God’s sake!” He said, making Louis blush.

The blue eyed boy looked away, trying to hide his blushed cheeks from Harry, which he couldn’t, because Harry already had a cheeky smile on his face, and when he did it, he noticed he had stiches on one of the cuts on his arm.

“I asked you not to take me to the hospital.” Louis let out, in panic.

“I didn’t.”

“What? Then…”

“Oh, right… I took care of your cuts and all…” He shrugged.

“You did? How?”

“I got into a lot of fights and had to treat my own wounds.”

“You could have gone to a doctor or something…”

“Actually not…”

“Why?” Louis coughed, making his stomach hurt a little. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me, never mind.” The boy smiled.

“It’s okay… I…” He sighed. “I used to get into a lot of fights, as I said, but… illegal fights.”

“Why?”

“Dad left us when I was sixteen. Mum didn’t have much money and I had to help her somehow because we were starving and there were bills coming from everywhere because of my dad’s businesses. I couldn’t get a job because of my anger issues, so I started fighting in order to control that so I could get a job after and my mentor told me that I could fight to make money because of how good I was and I accepted. Or of course I couldn’t tell anyone or I’d screw everything up and I’d be dead.” He let out a small, low laugh.

“Oh…” Louis said, looking at Harry’s sad face. Louis hated it, to be honest, to see the curly boy sad, the usual sparkle on his eyes was not present as he spoke. “Have you ever told your mum?”

“No, never. She… I told her I had a part time job and she bought it. I would save the money from my fights and I’d give it to her in the end of the month and tell her it was my payment. She also thought I was giving it all to her and she always told me to keep something for me. I made a lot on those fights while I could.”

“While you could?”

“Yeah, I was the champion, but, one day, I got knocked out and everyone lost faith in me, so…”

“What happened when you stopped getting into those fights?”

“I… I had to tell her I was fired and she asked me why and… I couldn’t really lie to her and she found out. She was so mad, yelling at me because they were illegal fights and there was this chance of me getting really hurt and into deep shit like the mafia and all.” He laughed. “She was overreacting, but I know she was just worried about me.”

“Then what?”

“You’re pretty curious, aren’t you?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Louis asked, covering his mouth in embarrassment.

“She got married. Filthy rich guy.”

“And-“

“Eat.” Harry cut, pushing the tray closer to Louis and he knew that was Harry’s way of asking him not to make any more questions, which got Louis thinking that maybe he didn’t like the man his mum married. He had all the right to not wanting to answer and Louis just had to respect that of course.

Louis’ hand went straight to the apple and Harry gently slapped it.

“You’re not going to just eat the apple.” He seemed serious. “You have to eat well, to heal all your cuts and bruises, or it will takes ages to disappear.”

“Okay…”

Louis ate in silence, while Harry searched for something of his that he could wear, inside his closet. He took a pair of black skinny jeans – which is what Harry basically has, beside the shorts he wears when training – and a white top tank.

“Here. You can dress these.” Harry said, checking the tray to make sure Louis ate everything. “You probably don’t like them much, but…”

“No, I like them.”

“Oh… it’s just because… I don’t know, you always wear, huh… baggy stuff… sorry, I don’t mean to be rude.”

“No, I know. I have skinny jeans and all of that, I just never wear them at school.”

“Why?”

“I… he doesn’t let me wear fancy stuff, unless I go out with him.”

“Shit. That guy’s just…”

“I don’t want to talk about him.” Louis said. “I just… I have to go back.”

“What? You can’t be possibly serious! You can’t be telling me that you want to go back to that fucking house after everything he did to you. For fuck’s sake, Louis, he almost killed you yesterday!” Harry yelled. “I swear to God, I’ll tie you to the bed.”

“That sounds… extreme.” The boy laughed. It actually felt good, laughing like that. “But that’s not what I meant.” He was serious again. “I just wanted to go get my stuff.” He shrugged. “I think Liam might let me stay for a few days. I don’t know, all I know is that I don’t want to be on that house anymore.”

“You can stay here.”

“What?”

“Seriously.”

“No, I don’t want to-“

“Bother me? So… you rather bother Liam?”

“That’s not even an actual reason.”

“Okay, I just don’t think he can protect you the way I can. And I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep if you’re there. What if he shows up there? Who’s gonna protect you? Liam? I don’t think so… Even if his parents make him leave, they won’t want someone with those kind of problems living in their house, I know it.”

“You think… he’ll come after me?”

“I’m almost sure he will. He won’t just let you go.”

“Oh, my God…” Louis said, his hands were shaking because he was started panicking, but Harry held them with his larger ones.

“Don’t worry.”

“How?”

“I’ll be here.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.”

“Why are you so nice to me?”

“Because…” _I kind of love you._ “I don’t know.” He lied.

“Sounds like a good reason.” Louis mocked, making Harry laugh. “Oh… huh… could you please leave?”

“Why?”

“Because I wanna change.”

“Change?” Harry smirked. “Louis, you have only your boxers on and who do you think took off your clothes?”

“What?” Harry’s words made him realize that he really was only wearing his boxers. “Shit…” Louis’ cheeks were on fire. “I… did you look?”

“No!” Harry answered, looking shocked, but then his smirk came back. “Not much…”

“Ugh! I hate you!” Louis answered, hiding his face on the pillows.

“Don’t worry, I’ll leave.” Harry spoke softly and planted a soft kiss on Louis’ smaller hands, making the boy shiver lightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo... my favorite thing to write is: the larry moments, IT'S SO FUCKING CUTE AND LARRY IS SO FUCKING CUTE AND asdfg ^^ I hope you all liked it and comment :3
> 
> NOTE (again): English is not my first language, so please forgive me for any mistakes


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry it took longer to update this chapter but I have a good reason: I've been busy voting for the boys!!! hahaha  
> Also, I really don't like this chapter and I just kept changing it over and over and I still don't like it, I don't know... '-'

Chapter 13

Going to Bruce’s house to get Louis’ stuff was quite hard because of all the feelings and all the memories present in there. Going inside that house was like watching everything from afar, like he was watching a movie or reading a book, like that wasn’t his own life, like it was someone else’s life he’d feel sorry for.

Louis was a bit confused about his feelings for Bruce. He had finally realized that the man was constantly hurting him and humiliating him and he hated every second of his life with him because of how he used to make him feel. However, he was used to the idea of loving him. He lied to himself every single day, making himself believe that he actually loved Bruce. He did loved him, a lot, but then everything changed and Bruce was no longer the sweet and caring man he met at a party that he and his friends crashed just for fun.

Louis had a different story to tell on every corner of that house. Everything reminded him of Bruce beating him and he was shocked at how he never opened his eyes to what was happening to him, to what the man was doing to him.

He was shocked at how long he put with it.

“Louis?” Harry asked, when everything was almost packed. “Are you okay?”

“I… I don’t know…” He admitted and sat on the bed he used to sleep in. “I can’t believe I was so stupid!”

“What do you mean?” Harry sat next to him.

“I mean… I’ve been with him for almost two years and he’s been beating me ever since I can remember… I… it’s like you said, I lied to myself this whole time and I believed I loved him, but now it’s like… like I’ve been living a lie…”

“You weren’t stupid, maybe scared, but not stupid Louis.”

“You- never mind.”

“What?”

“Nothing… let’s go.”

“Okay…” Harry said even though he was dying to know whatever Louis wanted to say.

Both Harry and Louis left the house after packing everything and bringing them to Harry’s car. Every now and then Harry would look at Louis and then look back at the road so the boy wouldn’t catch him.

The blue eyed boy had a small wooden box on his lap and he was staring at it ever since they left that house and Harry wanted to know why he was so focused on it, but he couldn’t just ask about it, he could only imagine how sad and hurt the boy next to him was so he was not going to be the one to bother him.

“Harry?” Louis called, looking at him for the first time since they got in the car.

“Yeah?”

“Do you know any quiet place?”

“I… huh… yes, I know a couple…”

“Good.”

“Why?”

“I want to burn this?”

“The box?”

“Yes.” Louis sighed. “You’re probably thinking I’m crazy or something like that, but… this box has pictures of me and Bruce, or just Bruce actually, since I hate to take pictures, I have all of them in this box, along with plain tickets and stuff like that. I want to burn everything.”

“Oh. I see.”

Harry turned around and took Louis to a place he got to know quite well as the years passed. It was the place he went whenever he was sad or upset, or when he would lose a fight and couldn’t tell his mum about it. Everyone has that place, no matter how cliché that sounds. It was this place in the woods, almost as if hidden from everyone and, when he was younger, Harry built a small house in one of the trees there and it has been his shelter ever since he did it.

A few minutes later Harry stopped the car and looked at Louis.

“We need to walk a little bit. We can’t go by car.”

“Oh… okay.”

“What’s with the face?” Harry asked when he joined Louis after getting out of the car, who was holding the box close to his chest.

“What face?”

“You made a face when I told you we had to walk.”

“Oh it’s just… let’s say I’m not really skilled at this.”

“Just one foot at a time.” Harry mocked.

“Shut up and walk.”

“Alright, princess.”

Louis stopped for a split of a second at the mention of that nickname and started walking right after his brain started working and told his heart to beat again or he would die and he tried to ignore the way his cheeks felt warmer. There was something about that nickname that Louis deeply loved, maybe because it was Harry who said it, in that British accent, because a British accent makes everything sound better.

Harry made Louis feel different from the first day they met or, well, the day Louis went against a hot and green eyed walking wall if you prefer. The way the blue eyes met green on that very same day. The way Harry would look at him in any other regular day, or the way he touched him when they kissed… when they kissed!

“Shit!” Louis cursed when he tripped over a branch and almost fell.

“Louis? Are you okay?”

“No, I almost fell.”

“That’s because you weren’t paying attention I’m sure.”

“Whatever…”

“What were you thinking abou-“

“Nothing!” Louis cut, his voice two times higher than the normal, making Harry stop and look at him with a smirk that Louis didn’t really get. “Just keep walking.”

“No need, we’re already here.” Harry announced with a huge smile, dimples and all.

Louis had been so deep in his thoughts about Harry that he didn’t even notice they had arrived and he surely didn’t notice the small wooden house right on top of a tree.

“What in the world?”

“What?”

“How-? Like, oh my God… who build this?”

“I did.”

“Haha. Now seriously, who did it?”

“Louis, I built this.”

“How? Jesus Christ Harry, this is so pretty! I could live here!” Harry laughed shyly at Louis’ words. He didn’t find his tree house something as special as Louis was painting it, but it was good to know the blue eyed boy liked, actually loved it. It was something he started doing on the worst day of his life, then he stopped for a while, almost forgetting it but then something clicked and he simply felt like he had to finish it and when he built it, the house turned out to be his shelter.

“Thanks.” He replied.

“Aww did I make you blush or something?” Louis cooed.

“What? I don’t blush Louis.” Harry laughed. “I just… liked that you liked it.” The green eyed boy stepped closer to Louis, caressing his cheek. “You otherwise, you blush like hell.” Harry said in a lower tone, watching as the boy in front of him turned his head to the other side.

Harry chuckled.

“Let’s do what we gotta do.”

“Oh, right… huh… so… right… how are we going to do this?”

“You didn’t even think about it, did you?”

“I guess not…?”

“Okay, come with me.” Harry said and he started walking towards the tree house. “I might have a lighter inside and I’m sure I’ll find something else where you can put those and burn them.” The curly boy explained while crossing the bridge that connected the ground they were standing to the tree where the house was built, not even realizing that Louis was not following him.

“Huh… Harry?” Louis called.

“Yes?” He answered and turn back. “Wait, what are you doing there?”

“Are you sure this is safe?”

“What?”

“You know, I don’t mean to offend your… builder skills or whatever, but… this is a bridge suspended in the air… you know, like those in the movies? With the river and the crocodiles and all of that… It doesn’t seem safe.”

“Louis, this is perfectly safe, and it’s not simply suspended by magic for God’s sake. I’ve crossed this bridge hundreds of times.”

“Precisely!”

“This is not going to fall Lou.” He walked back and stretched his arm. “Come, give me your hand.”

“Can’t you just go get what we need and leave and I’ll be here waiting for you?”

“I could, but now that I know that you’re afraid of it I can’t.”

“Oh, nice of you.”

“Do you trust me?”

“I do trust you, what I don’t trust is the bridge.”

“Well, I made this bridge so get your ass in here, right now or I’ll get you in here myself.”

“Ha! I’d like to see you trying.” Louis mocked.

“Okay.”

“No, no, no, no, no! Okay, stop!” Louis shouted when Harry took a step closer to him. “I’m coming, just… oh, my God… just hold my hand.”

“I will and I won’t let go.” Harry said, the words meaning more than Louis could imagine.

Harry was never going to let go of Louis and nothing would change his mind or make him feel otherwise. What he felt for the scary boy next to him was only getting stronger and stronger, even more now that he had an actual chance with him. He was going to fight for Louis.

“See? That wasn’t hard!” Harry said when they reached the end of the bridge.

“Yes, it was. I’m really scared of heights.”

“No, you’re only scared of falling.”

“Same thing.”

“Not really.” Harry smiled. “You can get in.” He added as he, himself, got inside the small house.

Louis looked around, watching how everything screamed Harry. There was a punching bag and some really old fighting gloves. On one of the corners there was a big box and there was some papers around it with stuff written on them and some drawings as well. A few of those papers were hanging on the wooden walks. He wished he could read them, maybe find out what was on Harry’s mind.

“Ready?” The green eyed boy asked with a lighter on one hand and a metal can on the other which got Louis thinking where in the world he got that and why.

“Yes.”

“Okay, let’s go outside then.”

After crossing the bridge _again_ , Harry placed the can on the ground, where the area was cleared the most and waited for Louis to open the box he was carrying. Louis took a deep breath, what he was going to do had a strong meaning. Louis was going to literally burn all of his pictures with Bruce, but he was also going to burn the memories he had made with that man.

Louis took the lighter from Harry’s hand, placed the box on the ground and took a random photo from it. It was one where Bruce was staring at the sunset. He remembered that like it had happened on the day before. Bruce had an important meeting in Hawaii and he said he would take Louis with him since he knew how much he loved the beach. Of course that didn’t turn out well because some girls were hitting on Louis along with some boys of course. Bruce got jealous and you can already imagine how that ended.

Louis lit up the lighter and brought the picture closer to the little flame coming from the black object and he watched as the picture burnt slowly till it was all a mix of black and brown and grey and faded colors. Faded colors who meant faded memories.

At first it stung a bit. He was not used to _not being with Bruce_ and he felt like he was betraying him somehow, like he was insulting all their memories and all the years they’ve been together, but after the first picture it became easier and he found himself burning one photo after the other, asking for Harry’s help, something that also had a double meaning because he was going to need Harry’s help, not just to burn them but also to fight Bruce and make new memories maybe.

 

 

[tree house](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dQBR94S-baM/UpaxcqMKl1I/AAAAAAAAFrQ/SvMnNLy30H0/s1600/Treehouse2.jpg)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you liked it and to see the tree house just click the link that says "tree house" haha 
> 
> Louis is really putting a end to Bruce. You know, in the first day of a new year some people on my country make this huge black animal kind of monster and they burnt it down, meaning they're leaving all the bad stuff behind, they're like burning the old year and welcoming the new one, so why not make Louis do that? :D
> 
> Also, English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any mistakes and try to understand, thank you!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looks around for someone to blame*
> 
> *doesn't find someone*
> 
> *runs*
> 
> *hides*
> 
> hi.............. I know you all just hate me and most likely planning my death and all of that... *please let it be a quick death - just in case* but I had the biggest writer's block oN ALL MY GOD DAMN STORIES!!!!!!1 *cries* but I'm back now, hopefully...

When everything was reduced to a small pile of ashes, Louis decided it was time for them to leave, he couldn’t be there on that moment, after doing what he did. It was just too much for him and his heart and his mind, he was so used to be with Bruce and suffer in his hands that it kind of felt weird not to suffer and be with him, but he also knew it was for the best, for his own good and he knew he was safe with Harry.

He felt like the world could crumble down and Harry would find a way to keep him safe.

Louis was so distracted by his thoughts that he wasn’t paying any kind of attention to where he was placing his feet, which made him accidentally trip over a rock, _maybe it was the branch’s revenge for tripping over it before,_ Louis thought to himself, like it made perfectly sense…

This time, however, the blue eyed boy was not as lucky as the last time, as he fell shamelessly onto the ground and, somehow, making a deep cut on his knee. Louis got up immediately because of how embarrassed he would be if Harry saw his miserable scene.

“Louis, are you okay?” Harry stopped suddenly, looking at him, worried. “Did you just fall and… got up, like… really fast?”

“What, no! What the hell? Are you daydreaming or something like that?” Louis laughed nervously. “Just… you know… keep going.”

“Okay…” Harry said, shrugging, knowing Louis would whine about it at any time and he was right, because, as soon as he started walking, he could hear Louis, behind him, softly groaning, trying to hide his pain from the curly boy. “Lou…” Harry stopped and faced Louis. “I know you got hurt, your jeans are ripped and all!”

“What? What do you mean? They were like this. I bought them like this. Super cool, huh?”

“Yeah, duh me.” Harry said sarcastically, shaking his head. “Louis, let me see that, okay?”

“Fine, whatever.”

Harry kneeled carefully in front of Louis and took a close look at the blue eyed boy’s cut, realizing it was actually pretty deep. No wonder he was having trouble walking! The curly boy got up again and smirked, seconds before taking Louis in his lap, carrying him bridal style… or groom’s style.

“Harry, what the hell are you doing?”

“Carrying you.” He answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world… which was, actually. “You’re hurt, we need to treat your wound.”

“Don’t treat me like a baby.” He muttered, hiding his face in Harry’s neck, taking the chance to appreciate the smell of his cologne, because, why not? “I can walk by myself.” He spoke, making Harry shiver.

“Well, you really don’t have a choice.”

“What if I told you… huh…” He thought for a second. “What if I told you I would give you a kiss if you put me down?”

“Nope.”

“Oh.” Was the only thing Louis managed to answer, feeling a bit of pain in his fragile and broken heart. How could he be so stupid? Of course Harry didn’t want to kiss him! He just helped him because he felt sorry for him, for oh poor Louis whose boyfriend constantly beats him. Ugh!

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s just that your well-being is more important than my pleasure.” Harry answered and that got Louis looking at him like no one ever did before. He couldn’t really understand what he was trying to say with his eyes, only that there was a mix of happiness and sadness and something else he couldn’t figure out.

“It’d be my pleasure as well.” Louis said before he couldn’t think about it before spitting it out. A pair of green eyed immediately looked at his blue ones, curiosity painting them. “I-I mean… that’s not what… it’s just… because… you know… huh… stop looking at me like that, ugh!” Louis shouted, hiding his face with his hands.

The blue eyed boy peeked through his hands, enjoying the huge grin Harry had on his face, showing his dimples that he really wanted to poke if he wasn’t too embarrassed. With that sight, Louis couldn’t stop himself from smiling as well. That’s just how powerful Harry’s smile was.

“I’m going to put you on the ground now.” Harry announced a while later.

“What?” Louis asked, only then realizing that they had arrived to the car. He had been to focused on Harry’s facial features, and Harry’s eyes, and Harry’s lips, and Harry’s curls, and Harry’s neck, and… well, basically, everything about Harry. “Oh, right, the car…”

“Yes, the four wheel thing.” Harry chuckled, gaining a punch from Louis.

“Shut up.”

“Where to?”

“Your house?”

“Okay.”

Both of the boys got inside the car and not one single word was said after that. Harry couldn’t stop thinking about Louis’ words and wondering if they meant what he thought they meant. Did Louis want to kiss Harry, or was he just trying to be nice? Harry was thrilled just thinking about the first possibility.

Louis, on the other hand, was kind of shocked at his words and how easily they made all the way through his larynx and his vocal chords, coming out just like that. Of course kissing Harry was a wonderful idea, it happened before and everyone seemed to have a thing or two for Harry’s lips back at school, but that doesn’t mean he can just simply say, out loud, that he’d like to kiss him. He couldn’t be more embarrassed and he just wished it was all a dream.

“Okay, so I have a spare bedroom and you can stay there, you know, get your stuff there and all…”

“Is it the one I woke up today?”

“No, that… that was my bedroom.”

“Oh…”

“Is there something wrong with it?” Harry asked, suddenly worried.

“No, oh, my God, not at all!” Louis basically shouted, hands in the air like it would add him more credibility. “I was just surprised, that’s it… I didn’t know you actually had a spare room…”

“I was telling you the truth when I said you wouldn’t bother me…” Harry laughed.

 

 

…

 

 

It was around ten when Louis finished getting all his clothes and all the things he brought with him in its place. He finished it that late because the first thing they did when they got home was treating Louis’ bad looking knee and, then, he and Harry decided it’d be better if they had diner first and of course that ended up with a food fight and both of them acting like they were five years old.

Louis sat on his new bed and sighed, hearing the water from the bathroom running.

He only did all of that because Harry basically forced him, because he didn’t want to come across as clingy or desperate and, above all, he didn’t want to get way too comfortable or too used to being there because he would have to leave sooner or later. He couldn’t stay with Harry forever because a) he just couldn’t, he wasn’t his boyfriend or part of his family and b) he didn’t want Harry to get hurt or something like that because of Bruce, because of himself.

“Louis?” He heard Harry call and got surprised at how fast he could take a shower.

Louis’ blue eyes would have met Harry’s green ones if he wasn’t so God damn shirtless… you could actually say naked, since he had nothing but a towel around his waist. It was suddenly hard to breathe from where Louis was standing because of the view.

Harry was leaning against the door frame, with a worried look on his face, – maybe because the lack of Louis’ answer – his curls were wet and a drop of water would fall here and there. One of the water drops went all the way down Harry’s tanned torso, slowly going down, like the thing had an actual brain and was trying to cause Louis jealousy. And it was working!

“I… huh… huh-I… yes?”

“I just wanted to tell you that I’m going to bed, do you need help at something?”

_Breathing, I need help breathing!_

“No, thank you.” Louis managed to let out, along with a weird smile.

“Okay.” Harry was just about to leave, but he turned to Louis one more time. “You can obviously take a shower if you want.”

“Oh, okay.” Louis smiled.

“Goodnight!”

“Goodnight!” Louis simply answered, letting his body fall on the bed as soon as Harry left.

Louis couldn’t believe his own mind, having thoughts like that! But it’s not like it was his fault, blame it on Harry for showing up super sexy and almost naked… and wet… and, oh, those drops of water running free to places he could even imagine…

He shook his head.

“Stop!” He whispered-shouted.

Louis looked around. It was odd to be in a new place, a place that was not Bruce’s house, and he knew it was going to be hard to feel comfortable again. The blue eyed boy spent a lot of time on that house, because Bruce wouldn’t let him leave, except when he went to school. School was the only place he was allowed to go without him and even that was hard to get, taking the world for Louis to convince Bruce to let him go. The rest of the time, the blue eyed boy was at home, doing what he was supposed to do in the man’s mind.

Louis got up from the bed and walked towards his new wardrobe where he took his pajama pants and a pair of boxers, going straight to the bathroom where he took a quick shower because not even the hot water was relaxing his muscles. Thinking about Bruce left him a little disturbed and he couldn’t stop thinking about what could happen when he got home and found out Louis left.

Still, after his shower, he slowly went to bed and tried his best to push his problems and worries to the back of his mind and fall asleep.

 

 

_It was a pretty sunny day, one of those days when nothing can upset you because everything is just so colorful and screaming summer and happy. Louis couldn’t be happier, besides the good weather, he had a certain curly boy right next to him, holding his hand with pride, while they were both walking around the street, eating ice cream._

_Everything was just perfect, until his blue eyes landed on him. All of a sudden it was like there was no air around him and he wasn’t able to breathe anymore and it hurt. Louis was shocked and in panic. The only thing he could do was stand still, afraid that if he moved a muscle the world would fall apart right there and then._

_“Louis, baby? What’s wrong?” Harry asked, noticing the look on Louis’ face. “Louis! Hey, talk to me.” Harry lightly shook Louis’ body, making the ice cream fall onto the floor._

_Bruce was walking towards them and there was nothing he could do. He wanted to warn Harry, tell him to be careful, but he just couldn’t. Louis couldn’t move a single muscle, he couldn’t make his mouth open so he could at least yell, and he couldn’t move his arm and his hand in order to point at the angry man who was walking in their direction, ready to kill Harry. Louis could do nothing and he didn’t know why, he just couldn’t understand why in the world he was totally paralyzed. It couldn’t be just by fear, could it?_

_In the blink of an eye, Bruce reached Harry, pushing him which made him fall on the ground, his ice cream falling right next to his body. Bruce started kicking Harry like that was the thing he was destined to do, he kicked his stomach several times, and then hit his legs, just like he used to do to Louis. Harry tried to get up, but he fell right away, but of course he was not going to give up, so he tried to get up one more time and again, and again..._

_Bruce laughed at Harry and how weak he was and gave him one last kick right on the head._

_It was like the world stopped spinning, there was no air, no sound, just nothing. Harry’s lifeless body fell for the last time at Louis’ feet and he did nothing to stop Bruce from killing Harry, he did nothing to save the curly boy. All their words were no longer nothing but empty promises._

_“Now you, bitch!” Bruce’s voice sounded and his cold blue eyes faced him._

 

“No!” Louis shouted. He immediately sat on the bed and looked at every single corner as if he was going to find Bruce hidden somewhere inside that bedroom, it almost looked like he was paranoid or something like that.

It was hard for him to breathe, his body was shaking and he felt like he was going to pass out at any minute because of how scared he was. After taking more deep breaths than he could count, he let his body fall back onto the bed and closed his eyes, opening them right away because pictures of a lifeless Harry laying on the ground started flashing.

There was no way he was going to fall back asleep, he didn’t want to have any more nightmares, especially if they involved Harry getting hurt, so he did the first thing that came to his mind, not stopping for any moment to think about what he was going to do. He simply started walking and only stopped when he was standing outside his bedroom. He took one more deep breath and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” Harry’s raspy voice sounded from the inside a few seconds after, making Louis shiver, because, God damn, if that wasn’t sexy, then the world was totally lost. “Louis?” Harry asked, only then realizing how stupid his question was.

 _Of course it’s Louis, you dumbass!_ Harry thought to himself.

“What’s wrong?” Harry asked. Louis was standing at his door, his head facing the floor and he bit his lip and he was shirtless. It was taking everything from Harry for him not to get up, run towards him and just hug him and kiss him. “Hey, come here.” He called and watched the boy slowly walking in his direction and seating next to him. “Lou?” He called one more time, grabbing his hands.

“Yeah…”

“What happened?” As soon as the words left Harry’s lips, Louis started crying. He just couldn’t stand the fact the Harry might get hurt because of him and he was trying hard not to think about him dead.

“I… it’s a nightmare… you...” He sobbed. “We were out eating i-ice cream a-and… he… he was t-there… Bruce was there… and he… he be-” The boy buried his face in his hands and cried even harder. “He beat you… and-and… he k-killed you!”

Harry opened his arms and hugged Louis tightly, letting the boy cry his heart out. A few minutes later, Harry could feel his shoulder wet because of much Louis was crying and it was breaking his heart to see the blue eyed boy like this so he had to make him feel better somehow, he had to make him stop crying.

“Lou, look at me.” He asked and, when he didn’t move, he forced him to look in his eyes by lifting his chin. “I’m not going anywhere as long as you want me near you, do you understand that? There is no way that asshole can hurt me and he surely won’t hurt you because I won’t let him, it just won’t happen, okay?” Louis shook his head. “I could probably knock him out in 2 rounds.” He played and Louis let out a soft chuckle. “Now that is my Louis.”

Louis’ heart warmed up a little bit because of Harry’s choice of words.

“Can…” Louis started, but stopped himself.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Say it.”

“I…” He bit his lip.

“Don’t do that.” Harry said, softly pulling Louis’ lower lip down, staring at the boy. “What were you going to say?”

“Can I sleep here?” Louis asked, feeling his cheeks burning.

“Yes.” Harry asked, trying to hide his excitement. The curly one cleared his throat. “Come here.”

Louis laid next to Harry and he did the same, both looking at each other’s eyes and Harry just felt like pinching himself because he just had to be dreaming. Harry slowly placed his arm around Louis’ waist, waiting for something from him that told him not to do it, but he only felt the boy shiver softly and he took that as a good sign.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Harry.” Louis answered, leaning his head against Harry’s chest and falling asleep at the sound of their heartbeats.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO... sleeping togedah!!!!!!!11 whoop whoop! u.u  
> Do you guys think Bruce will go after them? Do you think he can kill Harry and maybe Louis as well just like in Louis' dream?
> 
>  
> 
> (btw: YOU GUYS OMG JAMES ARTHUR LIKED MY TWEET ASDFGH CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS!)

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to tell you that English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistakes :)


End file.
